Zone of the Enders: Countdown
by Nilke
Summary: It's 2175, and Myona and Cage return to Mars to visit their friends, but just at the same moment, an unknown group attacks a Lab complex. Could it be that these new events are taking them to a new start? Sequel to FoM, OCs included.
1. Arrivals

Chapter 1: "Arrivals"

* * *

  The sun was shinning brightly, announcing the first days of spring in Mars. Early in the morning, in a huge, travelling ship, a group of people is gathered, making the last preparations for an important day.

  "Hey, are we all set? We don't want to keep 'em waiting, do we?", Semyl's voice resounded onboard the Shaoshyant. 

  "Hey, don't shout like that. We have already heard you, and we know that we must be on time", Yukito replied her, in a mood that could only be explained due to a headache, product of a hard night.

  "Ok, ok, but we are only two here: you and me. Where's everybody else?"

  "Mebius must be with Lia, Warren must be checking everything like fuel, etc. Robin and Twede... checking the deck and things like that..."

  "And what 'bout the Idiot?"

  "Razma? Maybe he overslept..."

  "Don't take me so badly, here I am", Razma's voice came from the now opened door. 

  "He was just helping me with Lia, Sem. He seems he's practicing his paternal instinct", Mebius said from behind, carrying little, pretty Lia in her arms.

  "Sis, why do you say something like that!?!", Razma exclaimed, a bit ashamed of that statement made in front of Semyl.

  "Uh? You were helping her?", Semyl couldn't ask more, with her cheeks as red as an earthling tomato. 

  "Seems that the old BIS skirt-chaser wants to settle down...", Yukito noticed, with a mischievous tone of voice.

  "Hey, why are you all looking at me like that?", Razma asked annoyed. "I was just helping Sis, what's so weird about that?!?"

  "Um... nothing", Semyl said. "Nothing if it was done by any other person", she added immediately.

  "Oh, God, give me a break...", he concluded puzzled.

  "What's the matter here?", Warren asked from the door, watching everything through his sunglasses. Despite the sudden "fatherhood", nothing seemed to change, externally. Only he knew if there had been any changes within himself or not since the day Mebius and him, helped by the rest of the crew, took care of that little orphan baby who was handed over to Razma, and that almost caused his decease in hands of a furious Semyl. 

  "Uh... nothing, bro", Razma said quickly, so nobody could go on making fun of him.

  Little Lia, who was being held in Mebius arms, started moving and pointing towards Warren. He just when to Mebius side and picked her. 

  If there was something that that little, cute child who became "BIS' daughter", would never miss, it had to be love and a caring family, as she was being raised by a normal parental image, including a good amount of aunts and uncles as a bonus. 

  "Where are Robin and Twede? We should get going", Warren said, still holding Lia, who was now quietly resting in his arms. 

  "Let's get going. They'll follow us for sure", Semyl suggested. She was far too anxious to get to the spaceport. She, as everyone there, had her reasons.

  "Alright, there we go", Razma said, but they couldn't walk too much.

  "Not so fast", Robin said, coming into the room. "We got a signal from the radar. It seems that some LEVs are attacking a civil facility in the outskirts of the city. It seems to be some kind of laboratory, and whoever it's attacking it, it has some good knowledge about strategies. We should go and find out what's happening", she said, concluding her layout of the current situation.

  "What?!? But there hadn't been any serious encounters in the last months!", Semy exclaimed angrily. "Why it had to be today?!?"

  "Calm down, Sem"; Mebius whispered. 

  "I know what kind of day it's today, but if we don't hurry, there could be a great disaster. We don't know if there are any kind of materials in that lab that can blow up the entire sphere", Robin explained calmly. 

  "There aren't too many enemy LEVs in the 'battlefield'", Twede said, appearing from nowhere. After doing that for such a long time, his "appearances from nowhere" surprised no one, unless someone was off-guard.  

  "Maybe we should divide into groups", she said thoughtfully, after analyzing it for a few seconds. "Yes, that could work... Sem, Razma, Warren and Yukito, you go to the battlefield. Mebius and I will go to the spaceport. Twede, you stay here"       

  "But Robin, I want to go to the spaceport!", Semy objected.

  "We are all in the same situation. What's more, we need your anger there, so you can finish them off quickly", Robin told her.

  "Very funny", Sem replied ironically, yet angrily.

  "It can't be helped, so get ready", Robin said. 

  Semyl, Razma, Yukito and Warren to the garage, while Mebius and Robin left for the spaceport. 

* * *

  A year and a half has passed since the day Cage Midwell and Myona Alderan left Deimos Spaceport, in the search for their own identities and a brighter future for themselves. Mars has been quite peaceful, but it doesn't mean that the there hadn't been any anti-Earth manifestations. There hadn't been any attack from the most important anti-Earth group, BAHRAM, although there was something strange in the air, like everyone knew or had the certainty that someday those turmoil days would return to Hellespontos Sphere. That situation in Hellespontos was what the other spheres could call "peaceful".  One by one, several spheres started being controlled by "Vacilia's demon", and only a few remained, and from those few, some were about to surrender. It was the most well prepared sphere, and BAHRAM knew that they couldn't break into it so easily, especially with those troublemakers of BIS in between.

  BIS continued with its activities. They knew that someday Mars would be driven into important trouble, so they had to be prepared. 

  Among BIS members, some things changed. Lia's arrival was like a new beginning for them. A new period in the group's life without its founder and soul, Deckson Geyse, and without Phil. It was hard to get used to that, but they had to go on. Otherwise, Deckson's efforts and Phil's actions, as well as theirs, would have no meaning at all if BIS were to stop working. 

  Robin became the Captain of the group. That position that she covered in a hurry was given to her after a long chat. Twede is still with the group, following Robin's orders, and not reporting anything to NUT. That company still supplies BIS, as they can still use them as "beta-testers" and, if things went wrong and BAHRAM wanted to leave NUT behind, they had a possible "client". 

  Razma and Semyl noticed a kind of attraction towards each other, but they still go through separate ways. They almost were together after Cage and Myona left, but both of them denied that supposed attraction. Surprisingly, both of them thought that the other couldn't take something seriously, and there they are, quarreling and wondering if they could have been a good couple. 

  Yukito's still single. He hasn't changed at all. His relationship with his family has improved a bit, now that his father understands him , and sometimes he provides him some useful data.

  Mebius and Warren became parents quite soon, in a figurative way. Mebius is more than delighted with this new aspect of her life. Deep down herself, she takes it as a new chance after losing her baby, Tia. She has become more caring and motherly, and would do anything to prevent Lia of being hurt.

  Warren accepted this new "status" as a burden at first, as he was "socially obliged" to do it, but he really loves Lia, although he doesn't show it. He changed little in this time...apparently. Deep down himself, he's proud of his father-ship, and will do anything to protect both Lia and Mebius in any case. Talking about that, about their relationship, Warren hasn't proposed anything to Mebius, and she seems fine in her current position, single with a child but with a "partner" to raise "her child" and with more people supporting them.

  And today, the gang was going to have a great day, until the radar caught that emergency...

* * *

"Are we already there?", asked Semyl, still furious.

"We are almost there. Get ready to get into", Twede reply, driving the Shaoshyant and checking into the map.

"Why it had to be today? Couldn't they have waited some hours?", she went on, far too depressed this time.

"Never plan things with anticipation", Yukito stated, getting from his seat and dropping the magazine he was reading until that moment.

"Yeah, yeah, but I don't want to be here. Couldn't have come Mebius instead? An OF is better than a LEV, I think", she added.

"Could you stop complaining!?! You are far too repetitive!", Razma yelled.

"Oh, you! Don't tell me you don't want to see them!?"  
"Of course I want! But I have to be here, and I can't change that fact"

"Oh, please! How can you be so relaxed if you really want to see 'em, eh?", she asked him.

"Hey, you too, stop fighting. We are already there. Get into your LEVs and stop quarreling", Warren said, talking by microphone from the deck. He could hear everything from there through the speakers placed there.

"See? Go and shut your mouth", Razma said, concluding the discussion. 

"Ok, I'm going, I'm going", Semyl replied, getting from her seat and being the last in arriving to the deck.

* * *

"Poor Semyl. She wanted so much to be here"; Mebius said, while walking through Deimos Spaceport corridors alongside Robin.    

"Yes, I know. But if I told her to come, the others would have wanted to come too, although they wouldn't have complained. I know that now Sem is furious at me, but well, things went like this. I thought that two persons here at the airport were enough, especially with that emergency", Robin replied.

"Sounds right. Talking about that, what kind of place it is?".

"I'm not sure. From what we get with Twede, it seems some kind of laboratory, but we ren't certain. Whatever it is, an attack is no good, in any place".

"I agree with that. But it was strange that only few attacks were taking place in this sphere. I hope that, whoever it is, either Earth or BAHRAM, isn't ready to make things go wrong.", Mebius said thoughtfully, remembering the events from a short time ago.

"Well, we'll only know it when we return to the Shaoshyant, so don't worry until then. We can't do anything from here"

"Yes, I know", Mebius replied, and added immediately, "That's what makes me worry".

"Oh, great", Robin smiled.

_"Passengers from the flight 07B2 will arrive to Gate 02. The flight arrives in some minutes, please stay calm while they arrive. Passengers from flight 07B2..."_

"That's their flight!", Mebius exclaimed happily, after listening to the speaker. "Oh, I'm so anxious! I really wonder how they are, if they have changed or not..."

"I'm also anxious! Come, let's go! It will only take some minutes to see them again", Robin said, also happily, walking to the deck mentioned before.

"I wonder if I was right about not coming with Lia... she has grown up so much since...", Mebius started saying, but she got interrupted by Robin,

"Sorry, but hurry up, I found the way to the deck"

* * *

"Everyone ready?", Twede asked them from the control room, back at Shaoshyant.

"Yes, everyone set", Warren replied through the microphone, from the garage.

"Ok, I'm opening the hatch. Good luck!", Twede replied.

* * *

  Soon the three LEVs, Caliburnus, Justeen and Dreizhen, and the OF, Durandal II, were out from the Shaoshyant, analizing the area. Some metres away from them, there were some LEVs parked, waiting for an order to open fire. They weren't LEVs from the UNSF forces, and obviously, they weren't the Mars Angels, those gals should be busy with another activity, not with an attack to an unknown facility. 

"So, we came here to see some parked LEVs? Is this a joke or what?", Semyl asked ironically, noticing the parked LEVs and no one around in the area.

"Those LEVs... they aren't quite common, aren't they?", Razma analized, looking carefully at the LEVs.

"Well, they seem normal to me", Semyl replied, not paying too much attention.

"They don't look like the UNSF ones. I wonder who they are...", Yukito added. 

"Hey, wait, take a look there"; Warren said, pointing a gate, a few meters away from where the unknown LEVs were parked.

  Some people were coming out of the facility through that gate, but some, who looked like normal civilians, although some were wearing some overalls and others were wearing white laboratory coats, were being carried into one of the LEVs –the biggest one. It looked like they would be taken to another place, as hostages. When all the civilians were out of the factory, a young, blonde woman appeared. She seemed to be in charge, as she was the one commanding everything. 

"What's this?", Semyl asked surprised.

"They are taking all the people of the laboratory into the LEVs, they could take them as hostages or, worse, they are kidnapping them", Yukito replied angrily at the sight of the people being taken into the LEVs without choice.

"I think we should act right now!", Razma suggested, getting ready to open fire, but Warren interrupted him, saying, 

"If you move, they'll notice us, and there are innocent people in between, we can't at so carefree. They could get killed"  
"Yeah, yeah, you're right, but what'll we do now? Just keep watching the show?", Razma asked.

"Stop discussing about that, they had already seen us", Yukito interrupted, talking coldly.

"What?!?!?", Semyl asked more than surprised, as they weren't quite visible from where the other LEVs were. "How do you know that?"

"Look forward, and you'll see the LEVs moving in our direction. Plus, that blondie is looking in this direction, and she seems quite pissed off", Yukito continued, while starting Justine's engine and checking its status.

"Oh, great!", Razma added ironically. "Let's smash them!"

"They'll regret it for ruining this day!", Semyl said, getting ready to shot her W Beam Cannon in case she was hit.

"Hehe, you sound like some heroine from a late twentieth century girl-show, Semyl", Yukito said, laughing for himself.

"What? What are you talking about, pal?", she asked him, sort of confused.

"Nah... forget it", he just replied. After all, he was the only who understood what he was talking about.

"Ok, everyone ready?", Warren asked, checking his Durandal II status. "Let's see how tough they are".

  And so, the three LEVs and the OF went forward to a new battle.

* * *

"Robin, I'm too nervous", Mebius said, in front of Gate 02. It was the scheduled time, and no one has appeared through that gate.

"Stay calm, Meb, they should be coming in any moment", Robin tried to calm her down, but she was quite nervous herself. The flight has been announced to land at 3:20 PM, and some minutes had passed, without any sight of the spacecraft. They were quite anxious, and this wasn't helping much, the fact that they couldn't see the spacecraft from where the two women were waiting, standing.

"I wish I could stay calmer, but I can't help it, Robin. It's not such a huge delay, but I can't help it", Mebius said, feeling strange, as she normally was a patient person. "I guess I'm starting acting like Semyl", she added cheerfully.

"Too much time with her", Robin replied, following the joke.

"Maybe. Her company...", she started saying, but she interrupted herself. "Look, some people's coming from there!", she resumed, anxiously, looking at the gate. Some people were coming through the gate, carrying their handbags and things like that.

"Mebius, come, they are coming, over there!", Robin exclaimed, walking to the gate. 

* * *

"They aren't as tough as we thought, don't you think, guys?"; Razma asked, after finishing off another LEV. With this one, they had defeated 7 LEVs, and they hadn't suffered any major loss. There were only two LEVs left, the ones that were carrying the civilians.

"Ok, now, let's plan the big strategy", Warren said, not paying attention to Razma's commentary. "We can't crush that LEVs, or we'll kill all the civilians there. We should try to make them surrender, or to damage their LEVs without harming the people inside. We don't know who we are dealing with, so we don't know if they'll try to perform any suicidal action or something like that. Just try to damage them, ok?"

"Better done than said", Yukito replied. 

  Yukito shot Justeen's handgun, and Semyl used "Cali"'s Lasser Blade. Amazingly, that was enough to make the enemy LEV surrender and to rescue all the civilians, but the last LEV left, where the blonde woman/commander was, managed to escape right after the other LEV was defeated. 

"Hey, she's escaping! Should I go after her?", Razma asked, angry for that kind of reaction.

"You'll never learn, you...", Semyl replied, also angrily, but this time by Razma's reaction. He'll never stop being a skirtchaser, it seemed.

"Hey, I didn't mean that!", Razma told her, "I'm not that monster you think I'm!"

"Stop, you two", Yukito interrupted, "She's already gone. That LEV's quite fast. Let's see what can we do with the one here."

 They got off from their LEVs and went to the enemy LEV, just to find that all the civilians had already left, as soon as the door of the LEV was opened. There wasn't any sign of the pilot, either. So, they had no clue about the attack.

"Oh, great!", Yukito exclaimed angrily, "We save them their life and they all run away like chickens, without even giving us the thanks! Not that I expect that reaction, of course".

"What's worse, we don't have a clue about this attack and this facility", Warren said, checking the LEV for any kind of data, but he couldn't find any.

"Why don't we check inside. There should be something there", Razma suggested, having a look to the gray, old fashioned structure that the facility was.

"Do you think that could work?", Semyl asked, "What if there's some kind of trap in there?"  
"What? Are you afraid?", Razma replied mischievously, almost inside the building. "Come on, you'll never know if you don't try".

"He's right. I'm going in", Yukito said, joining Razma.

And so, the group went into the facility.

* * *

"Myona, Cage! Welcome back!", Mebius exclaimed happily, hugging the returning couple.

"I can't believe that you are here again!", Robin said happily, when greeting them back.

"Thanks for being here", Myona thanked, with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, thanks for coming", Cage replied, picking both his things and Myona's.

"Hey, where's everybody?", Myona asked, surprised. 

"What? Aren't you glad of seeing us?", Robin asked her ironically.

"No, it's not that!", she replied, blushing. "The thing is that I don't see Semy and the others anywhere, and she said that everyone would come to the spaceport", she added, innocently. Her innocent nature hasn't vanished, even after passing through those negative events back in the past. Although she was nearly twenty now, she seemed the same Myona from two years ago. Physically, she hasn't changed much: she still wears those long plates, although her hair is longer than the last time she was in Mars.

"Maybe they had an inconvenient", Cage suggested. Unlike Myona, Cage seemed to have changed: his eyes showed a feeling of maturity, and he had that typical beard that appears after some days without a shaving, and that made him look more mature.

"Well, something like that happened", Robin said, talking seriously now. 

"We'll tell you on our way to the Saoshyant. Don't worry, it didn't seem like something very difficult", Mebius added, helping Cage with their suitcases and equipment.

"Meb, I can carry all that myself, don't worry", Cage protested, trying to catch the suitcases that Mebius had picked.

"Hey, you've been travelling for too long. It's time you relax", she replied, leading the way to the spaceports' exit.

* * *

"There's nobody here", Semyl stated, after having a short look to the facility. "Guys, let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps", she admitted, examining the walls. 

  It was a very dark place, old and untidy. There were lots of papers dropped everywhere, and some locations seemed to have been cleaned some long years ago. It seemed more than a closed factory than a laboratory.

"Hey, wait a bit more. We've just entered here and you want to leave", Yukito replied, having a look at some of the papers. There wasn't anything important or relevant in them: they were just some shop ads or old newspapers.

"I'm going further", Razma said, leaving the room and going into another.

"Hey, Razma, stay here! Don't leave me... er... us here, idiot!", she said, correcting herself.  

She had no answer –he was already gone. 

"Hey, Idiot, what if something happens to you!?! Don't expect me to go in your rescue!", she continued, getting angry.

"Let him do his own way. He's big enough to take care of himself", Warren replied, checking a computer that was left on, but unable to do anything. "Great. I can't access to any file. Yukito, come and try your luck", he said, getting from his chair and picking a bunch of papers.

"Let me see... I can't access, either", he said, after trying for some minutes. "I don't think I can do anything with this, but I'll try".

"Come on, let's go. There's nothing here!", Semyl insisted, after revising some of the papers, but her head was elsewhere, and she wanted to run back to the Saoshyant. Anyway, the papers she had weren't important: just more ads and newspapers.

"Maybe you are right", Warren said, but he was interrupted by Razma's voice, who came running through one of the doors. Breathing heavily, he said, "Come with me, there's somebody left here!".

"What?!?!?", the others asked in an echo, dropping the things they had in their hands.

Razma guided the others to another room, where an almost unconscious person was laying on the ground. It was a young light blue-haired woman, wearing casual clothes. She was in a bad shape, and the fact that she would faint wasn't too far from the reality.

"Hey, are you ok?", Razma asked her, grabbing her from her shoulders to prevent her from fainting.

"Hel...p me", the girl said, in a very tired tone of voice.

"We are here to help you. Hold on", Semyl added gently, placing her hands around her head.

"What's your name?", Warren asked her, distant as always.

"Hazel... Drajner", the girl whispered. Then, her head fall into Semyl's hands. She had fainted.

"Oh, just great!", Semyl exclaimed. "Please tell me that she's not dead, is she?", she asked, worried.

"Well, I think she isn't... but maybe we should check", Razma said, getting nearer the girl, ready to perform CPR.

"Hey, don't dare to do that, you...!", Semyl yelled to him, grabbing his arm tightly and violently.

"I wasn't going to make something rude! Ouch! This hurts, lemme go!", he replied, trying to get rid of her.

"I think that if she doesn't react with your shouts, she's already dead", Yukito said, taking her pulse. "Well, she's just unconscious. But we can't let her here alone. She needs some medical assistance", he said, thoughtfully. "We must take her with us", he added.

"I don't think it's a good idea", Warren said, looking at her carefully. "She seems normal, but we don't know anything about her or this place. It's a big risk".

"But if we take her we can learn more about this place, don't you think so?", Yukito replied, excited.

"I agree with him. We should take her", Razma said, trying to escape from Semyl.

"Ah... I wonder what you would like to do with her. You'll now see!!!!!", she yelled, grabbing his arm tighter than before.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, leave me alone!!", he yelled.

"C´mon, Pops", Yukito said, "Reconsider it. She may need some medical assistance after all", he said, staring at the fainted gal. "We ask her some questions and then we take her to a hospital. What do you think?"

  Warren looked at the young woman. Maybe taking her with them would be the only way to know what that place was. Moreover, she could really need medical attention. Finally, he said, "Alright, we'll take her"

"Mmh, really?", Semy asked, releasing Razma's arm.

"Oh, finally", Razma said, looking at his poor, hurt arm.

 "But if you try to do anything with her...", she said, staring Razma, "you'll remember it for the rest of your life", she added, menacingly.

 "What would you do? You'll stay with my arm?", Razma replied ironically, while helping Yukito to carry the fainted gal.

"You bet", was Semyl's simple answer. Although they were few words, she could swear that she saw Razma shuddering. 

"Hey, stop with this... quarrel. It's like a torture. I'm quite fed up", Warren said, leading the group to their respective OF and LEVs. 

"Always the same fun-loving guy", Yukito said, with his usual irony.

"Why, you...", was Warren's answer.

  Soon, the whole group was outside the facility, ready to return to the Saoshyant and to meet Myona and Cage again.

* * *

"Well, we are almost there", Robin said, after calling Twede to tell him to open the hatch so they could enter.

"I wonder how's everybody doing...", Myona said, as if she were in a dream.

"Well, we are doing quite well. The situation is not as bad as two years ago, at least here. However, you can't be so trusty and you still have to be prepared...", Mebius said.

"After all, BIS is forever!", Robin exclaimed, interrupting Mebius. 

"I think I have heard that phrase before...", Cage said, smiling.

"It has become like our slogan", Robin added, giggling.

"About us... I won't say anything. Just see for yourself!", Mebius said, returning to the previous issue.   

"Hey, it's not fair!", Myona exclaimed, happily. "You are going to kill me with this suspense!"

"That's the point", Robin said, turning to the left. "But don't cry, you don't have to wait anymore. We have arrived", she added, proudly.

  Right in front of them, the big vehicle known as Saoshyant was parked there, with its hatch opened, waiting for the old newcomers.

* * *

"Well, now yes, welcome back", Robin said to Cage and Myona, after getting out from the car.

"Finally, we are here", Myona said.

"Yes, it seemed like an eternity", Cage replied thoughtfully.

"Well, YOU wanted to go and to know different places and to meet new people. Nobody pushed you to do that", Mebius replied calmly.

"And we aren't complaining about that. We are proud of what we have done. Aren't we, Myona?", Cage defended himself.

"We needed that kind of journey, you know...", Myona said, and everybody understood what she meant with those words. 

"We aren't blaming you, you know", Mebius said, as if she were apologizing for something. "Well, you know that way, don't you?"

"Of course we do", Cage said, holding Myona's hand while going through the door that lead to the control room.

"Hello, Mr. Twede!", Myona exclaimed from behind, making him drop the papers he had in his hands.   

"Hey, oh, hi", he said, a bit annoyed because of that kind of appearance.

"You'll learn to make a good entrance with this", Cage said, "You  made us feel like you are feeling now when you showed up of a sudden".

"That's what I call a "drink of one's own medicine", Mebius said, giggling.

"Very funny", Twede replied more annoyed than before, as he never enjoyed being the blank of jokes.

"What's more, you are the same emotional person", Robin said ironically. "Show a bit more your feelings! Don't you have anything more to tell them? What will you do when we get married?"

  Twede cheeks turned into a bright red.

"Ehh?!?", Myona exclaimed puzzled.

"So you were hiding it well, Robin", Mebius said naughtily. "And I thought we were friends, that we would tell us sooner", she added, playing the offended part.

"It's not like that", Twede start saying shyly, but he got interrupted by Robin, who said, 

"Ah!?! You don't want to admit it? You've just broken my heart!"; but seeing how the situation was developing, and recognizing a little of hate in his expression, she decided to kill the joke. 

"Alright, alright. It's not true. It's just something I said to make him speak more. Now, don't make fun of him", she said, in an apologizing tone of voice. However, it was too late.

"Mmhh... maybe. But can you explain why he turned red if it was only a joke?", Mebius said, holding Lia, who was sleeping in one of the sofas in the control room. "I think it's time that you two start practicing...", she went on, walking towards Robin with the little girl in her arms.

"Err.... why? It's not the time, yet", Robin just whispered, nervously.

"She got nervous, has she, Cage?", Myona said, taking part in the new joke.

"Yeah, she seems nervous", he added, laughing after that.

"Mebius...", Robin whispered, angrily now, while watching her coming nearer with Lia.

"Let me introduce you to Lia", Mebius said, turning to Cage and Myona, instead of advancing towards Robin, thing that relieved her.

"This is the little girl that brought Razma the day we left?", Myona asked, quite surprised. "Oh, it's obvious! She grew up since the day we left! And I still thought of her as a tiny little being...", she said sadly.

"Come on, Myona, don't feel bad. It's nothing to worry about", Cage told her, embracing her. The couple seemed prettier than when they were standing side to side. That made the few BIS members that were there quite proud of that young couple.

"Thanks, Cage", Myona whispered, smiling. Then, holding Lia, she said, "She's really cute. Can we play with her?"

"Of course!", Mebius exclaimed, "You don't need to ask that sort of things".

"They have arrived", Twede interrupted, looking at the radar. "I'm opening the hatch now"

"I'm so nervous, Cage", Myona whispered, while playing with the little girl.

"Don't worry, everything will be OK", he answered, but he wasn't feeling very confident, either.

* * *

"Oh, c'mon, move out!", Semyl shouted from the hangar, and hurried to the central room, where the others would be gathered.

"Hey, be careful!", Razma replied, also shouting, forgetting about the girl they have found at the supposed labs.

"Oh, youth", Yukito stated, ironically, before Warren asked him his help to carry the unconscious girl (thankfully for them, she wasn't so heavy).

"Ahhh! Myona!!!!! Cage!!!", Semyl exclaimed, as soon as she saw the young couple standing in the room. In matter of seconds, she was hugging Myona so much that it was a wonder that the purple-like haired girl could breath. "I missed you so much!", she said, still hugging her.

"Semy! I missed you too!", Myona replied, happily.

"Ha, hi Mr. Problem!", Razma greeted Cage. "Oh, hi Myona", he added, sort of "analizing" her.

"Hey, what are looking at?!?!", Semyl exclaimed, getting angrily. "She's our friend, not any girl!"

"Talking about 'any girl'...", he said, thoughtfully.

"You don't need to worry...", Yukito said, carrying with Warren the forgotten girl. Both of them carried her to one of the chairs and left her there. 

"Hi, Cage, hi Myona", Yukito greeted them, "You seem... like fine young people"

"Haha, thanks Yukito", Cage replied, laughing.

"That's for you. And especially for you, Myona, you have turned into a beautiful young lady", he said, praising her.

"You'll never change, will you?", she replied giggling.

"Hey, won't you say anything to him, Semyl?", Razma asked her, annoyed by her attitude.

"He's different!", was her only answer.

"Welcome back, people", was Warren's simple greeting.

"Hi, Mr. Warren", Myona replied.

"Sorry to interrupt this nice moment", Robin said, quite worried, "but who's that girl that you brought here? You know that this is no hospital..."

"Oh, we found her in that place that was being attacked", Yukito said, while going to the chair where they had left her. "We entered the building, hoping that we would find something useful, or at least to know where we were, but we found nothing but this girl, almost unconscious. We just couldn't leave her there".

"Of course not!", Mebius said, "but she needs medical treatment urgently! Come on, take her to the First Aid room!", she ordered, visibly annoyed by her male companion's lack of sense.

"I'll go with her!", Razma exclaimed, but he was soon stopped by Semyl,

"You are going nowhere! You forgot about her back there, hadn't you? You are no one to trust, so come here right away!"

"And who'll take care of her?", he replied.

"Somebody else, but not you"

"Hey, can you stop fighting and help with this?", Mebius exclaimed angrily, "We have to prepare the room! Open the door, switch on the lights, prepare the bed, that may be undone, and things like that, so let's get going!"

  And so, Meb went to the first aid room, while Yukito and Warren carried the girl there. Razma and Semyl went with Mebius, still quarreling about who should look after her and all that.

"Oh, God, we'll never have a quiet day, after all", Robin said, tired. "And who knows who's that girl, and in what problems would we be dragged into?!?"

"I'll look in the network for any kind of information that may help us", Twede said, leaving the room. 

"Alright. Maybe the others know something more", she said, walking to the door. There, she turned back to Cage and Myona and said, 

"What a welcoming, isn't it? Sorry children, we'll talk a bit later", and then she was gone.

  The young couple found itself alone in the central room. It was like a reminder of old times. Smiling, Cage said, 

"Well, we are back"

"Yes, nothing has changed", Myona sighed, also smiling. 

* * *

Back To Fanfiction  
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	2. Blue girl

Chapter 2: Blue girl

"She's sleeping", Mebius said, coming from the First Aid Room. 

"Well, at least she's not dead", Semyl said, from her seat next to Myona's. 

"That's something", Yukito added. 

"I wonder if she'll be OK. I it's been more than an hour and a half since you brought her here, and she hadn't reacted since...", Mebius added, worried. 

"Did she say anything? I thought she hadn't been conscious since we picked her from the that place", Razma asked, surprised of Mebius statement. 

"Ah, yes. She asked where was she, but she soon fall asleep right after we placed her in the bed", Yukito stated. 

"Is somebody looking after her now?", Robin asked, worried about the possible consequences of having that stranger onboard Saoshyant. 

"Right now, no one. I just came to pick some fresh water, but I would also like to hear about how did you find her and about that radar signal", Meb said. "But I don't think it'll be necessary. She's sound asleep, I've been with her for the last half an hour and she's like when I found her: sleeping", she added, to calm down Robin. 

"Are you sure it's not necessary to send someone to stay with her", Robin asked, still worried. 

"Calm down, Robin. She doesn't seem either suspicious or dangerous to me. She's just a normal gal", Meb replied, hoping that Robin would stop with her paranoid state. 

"Mebius' right", Semyl insisted, "She just asked for help when she noticed us" 

"Hey, Robin, the ladies are right", Yukito said, agreeing with Semyl and Mebius. "She seems far too normal, even innocent if you want". 

"I'm not very fond of the idea of having her staying here, but we could let her here until she is conscious again", Warren added, as his defensive argument. 

"See? Pops also agrees! You have to believe him!", Yukito replied, cheerfully. 

"Why, you...", Warren just whispered, in that cold manner of his. 

"Alright, alright. No one will go to look after her, unless we hear anything suspicious", Robin said, not very sure of her decision. "Now, can you tell us how did you find her?" 

"Well, remember that radar signal?", Yukito started the story. 

"Yeah, go on", Robin replied, hastily. 

"We went there just to find a big building without any notice in it. We still don't know what kind of facility it is. Right there, there were many LEVs parked there..." 

"They had no mark, so we don't know if they are either BAHRAM's or UNSF's LEVs", Razma interrupted. 

"That's right", Yukito said, going on with the story. "They were carrying people from that building into one of the LEVs, and as soon as they noticed us, they start attacking. Soon, there were only two LEVs left: the one were their commander was and the one that was carrying the civilians" 

"We defeated the LEV where the civilians were, and the remaining one retreated, so we don't know if it was either Earth or BAHRAM who was attacking", Warren interrupted. 

"Yeah, that's right. And when we got to the LEV which carried the people, we find that there was nobody there", Semyl added. 

"I've never seen such acknowledgement before", Yukito said, ironically. "Whatever, we didn't know what to do, and Razma suggested to get into the building, so we did that" 

"I hope this won't bring us much trouble", Robin said, still worried. 

"We got into the building, but we didn't find anything that could tell us what sort of place it was. It just looked like an office complex, or something like that", Yukito went on. "Until Razma returned screaming that there was one person left, almost unconscious" 

"That always reserved and calm stupid...", Semyl started complaining, but was soon stopped by Razma. Hell was just a few meters away from them... 

"Will you ever stop?", Mebius asked annoyed. "Remember that we have an infant and an injured person here, so don't shout" 

Both of them cooled off, but they weren't going to forget that, so maybe they would go on with their quarrel later. 

"Whatever, we followed Razma and got to a room where that chick was laying down", Yukito said. 

"And she fainted a few seconds after we came in", Warren added. 

"So, we don't know anything about that place but we have a 'hostage'", Robin analyzed, thinking in what they should do. 

"'Hostage' is not the word", Razma said. "She asked us for help, so we weren't going to let her there" 

"She may be badly injured", Semyl added. 

"In that case, why hadn't you taken her to a hospital? It's the most logical thing to do in these cases", Twede asked, after listening cautiously to the story. 

"In that case, we would never know about the incident, and we wouldn't know if either BAHRAM ir the Earth are up to something!"; Razma exclaimed. 

"They are right about that", Robin said, approving their action. "But the matter is: what will we do with her after getting what we want? You aren't thinking in throwing her from the deck, aren't you?", she asked, giggling. 

"Oopsss....", Razma whispered, feeling guilty. 

"What? You hadn't thought about that?", Warren exclaimed surprised. "Can you understand why I didn't want to bring her?" 

"Well, maybe we could just tell her we are from the military forces. We land Saoshyant in the suburbs of the city and then we just tell her to leave, that her declaration will be useful", Yukito suggested. 

"Oh, come on! Poor girl! You want to make her believe that? And what if the real police finds her, uh?", Mebius protested. She seemed to have acquired certain kind of fondness with the unconscious young woman. 

"But what's with telling her the truth?", Myona said, after listening the whole story. "Are you afraid that she will tell anybody about the group?" 

"Yep, that's the matter", Yukito replied. "Not that we now want to remain as an underground, parallel organization, but we don't know how trustworthy she is". 

"Your case was different", Semyl said. "You accepted our help, and Deckson let you join..." 

"I don't want to interrupt this, but I guess I heard something coming from the first aid room", Twede said, suspiciously. 

"I'm going!" Mebius yelled, hurrying to that room, with all the others behind. 

* * *

Mebius got into the first aid room, finding the girl awake. There was a cup –at least what remained of it-, which originally was in the small table next to the bed, laying on the floor, so obviously the sound of the cup crashing into the floor was what caught Twede's attention. Apparently, the blue-haired girl dropped it unintentionally when she awoke. 

"Hi. So you are awake?", Mebius said in a softly tone of voice. 

"Yeah, I'm better", the girl replied, a bit dizzy. "But where am I? What has happened?", she asked then, a bit afraid. 

"Calm down, you are safe here", Semyl said, also softly. 

"And how can you guarantee me that I'm safe here?", the young woman replied, bitterly. 

"I can't believe this lack of gratitude!", Yukito said, trying to sound scandalized, but failing. After all, he wasn't feeling that way. 

"I didn't want to be rude!", the girl apologized, quickly. "But I can't understand such kindness... Anyway, thanks for getting me out of the Labs", she added. 

"So those where some Labs...", Warren stated, thoughtfully. 

"However... where am I now? And who are you? You are quite numerous...", the girl said. 

"Why don't you first tell us who are you? It's not comfortable to talk to someone you even don't know its name...", Robin said, calmly. 

"That's what I should say!", the young woman exclaimed. "At least I hope you aren't either from hte Government or the UNSF... I don't feel comfortable among them..." 

"You can trust in us, you don't have to fear us... Hazel, you said you were?", Semyl said. 

"Yeah, my name's Hazel, how did you got that?", the girl said, a bit annoyed, and a bit surprised. 

"It was one of the few things that you said before fainting when we found you back at those... Labs", Razma said, speaking for the first time. 

"Ah... now I remember something... yeah, you are that fire-haired guy... yes, I think I remember something... but what happened after that?", Hazel said, thoughtfully first, then a bit curious. 

"We picked you up and brought you here. You fall unconscious", Warren stated. 

"Aha... I see", Hazel said, sounding sad and lowering her head, as if she were too worried about something. 

"You didn't find anybody at the Labs?", she asked them. 

"No, they all escaped when the LEV they were in surrendered", Yukito said. "Nobody was left in the facility" 

"At least, not where we searched", Warren added. 

"I'm glad for them that they could make it... although they weren't that kind with me...", Hazel said, sighing. 

"What did they do to you?", Myona asked, caught with curiosity. 

"When the alarm started ringing, all the others started running and escaping, and it seems that some idiot, unintentionally or not, locked the door of the room I was in. Then, I could only hear shouts and cries, but I couldn't escape. Somehow, I managed to open the door, but I was already feeling too dizzy. I guess it was all that paralyzing gasses those... people throw into the Labs. I couldn't walk properly, and then you came and I fainted. That's all". 

"But who attacked that place?", Robin asked, interested and not worried like before. It seemed that she was starting to like the girl. 

"Sincerely, I don't know. The alarm started ringing and everybody rushed from a place to the other, and that's when I got locked, so I couldn't see much. But I think they were commanded by a blonde-haired woman... I could recognize her voice everywhere, it was quite annoying", Hazel stated, trying to remember anything more. "Well, you got what you wanted, and I still don't know who are you, guys! Please, don't tell me you belong to the police or anything like that! I don't want to get involved in anything strange", she said, demanding an explanation. 

"Robin, please come to the bridge", Twede's voice called her from the speakers. 

"That's me", Robin said, smiling to Hazel, and getting out of the room. 

"Who's that?", Hazel asked, curious about the one who wasn't there. "Am I missing even more people?" 

"Nah, we are just all this", Razma replied, but he could tell than more than one started thinking in some gone friends. 

"I see... But can you explain me how did you got to the Labs? How did you know about the attack?" 

"Well, we were here and picked something strange on the radar", Semyl started the story. "When we got there, there wasn't much left, but we could see the civilians escaping from one of the LEVs. Then, this... person", she was pointing at Razma, "Thought that it would be a good idea to sneak into to get some data." 

"About the Labs, if I'm not wrong", Hazel stated. 

"We just wanted to know what those men were attacking", Yukito replied. 

"Aha... and then, wandering in the Lab, you found me, almost fainted", Hazel anticipated, summing up the story. 

"That's right", Warren concluded. "Now, if you can tell us, what kind of Labs are those?" 

Hazel smiled lightly, and she just replied, "Why do you want to know? They are just some typical Labs were you check the status of LEVs and other kind of machines, and I think that even some spaceport appliances" 

"What other kind of machines?" 

"Well... civilian LEVs, transport machines, things like that" 

"You don't seem to know so much about the place you were working in", Yukito stated. 

"That's easy: I was working in the Administrative section, so I don't know a thing about machines and things like that. I just have a small idea of that". 

Robin was next to the door, but she wouldn't enter. She was making them signals to go to the bridge. Unfortunately, nobody could see her, as she was trying not to be caught by the "guest" aboard. Thankfully, Mebius saw her. 

"I think that you have to rest, don't you?", Mebius told the light blue-haired girl, while waving the others, as a signal to abandon the room. Soon, they were all gone, except Mebius. 

"Thank you, but I'm alright. You don't need to worry too much about me. I pick my things and I leave... well, only my jacket", Hazel said, noticing that the only thing she had with her was her dark, blue jean jacket, which was in one of the chairs. 

"It's alright. I'll let you rest for a little while, then you may go", Mebius said, next to the door. "If you need anything..." 

"... Press that little button next to the bed, I know", Hazel interrupted her, pointing at the little white device next to the bed. 

Mebius looked at her puzzled. "How did you know that?", she asked her. 

"Well, this place really looks like a hospital, so I thought this little thingy would have the same function that it has in hospitals", Hazel replied, calmly. 

"Well, ok, see you", Mebius said, still puzzled, before going through the door. 

* * *

"What's the matter, Robin?", Cage asked the gray-haired leader of BIS. 

"We picked another signal on the radar. This one in a residential area.", Robin replied, seriously. 

"What?!? They strike two times in the same day?!?", Semyl asked astonished. That was too much for a single day. 

"And how do you know that it's the same group?", Razma asked her. 

"Well... it has to be the same group. How many suspicious-like groups do you know?" 

"Well, BAHRAM, the UNSF, the Mars Angels?", Razma replied, searching for more names in the mess of his mind. 

"Us, for some people", Warren added. 

"But we aren't the ones behind this!", Semyl exclaimed annoyed. 

"Semy, calm down", Myona whispered, begging her friend. 

"Enough of this!", Robin exclaimed annoyed. There wasn't enough time to discuss about terrorists groups. "We must hurry. We all already know the effects of an encounter in a civilian area. We should go there and either reach an agreement or attack them, but not where all the civilians are". 

"There are only five or six LEVs, so they must be searching for something in particular", Twede said, staring at the radar. 

"It's strange...", Yukito said, "Earlier there weren't many LEVs, also. It's as if they were just looking for certain things". 

"Yeah, they are just some normal LEVs", Razma added. "If you want to invade something, that's not the stuff you should use, I think". 

"Maybe that's why they are using them, whoever they are", Warren analyzed coldly. It wasn't a stupid idea, after all... 

"However, we should decide who's going and who's not", Robin said, calling the group back to normality. "Any volunteers?" 

"I would go, but I don't know if there's any LEV or OF available", Cage replied, for the first time since they started discussing. 

It was the first noticeable change. A year and a half before, he wouldn't have gotten into a LEV unless in a extreme situation as the one he was thrown into, and now he was asking to pilot a unit, any unit. His eyes showed confidence, and he seemed fully determined. 

"In that case... I think that you'll have to pilot the Calibur. The Vyaja is at the lab and the Nerokerubina... we rather don't use it. You know, just in case", Robin explained, getting a bit nervous when talking about the Nerokerubina. "Besides, after using Testament, I don't think you'll feel quite comfortable in the Vyaja or in any other used LEV or OF. Don't worry, we'll sure find something suitable for you", she added, blinking her right eye to the rest of the group. 

"It's all right. I don't have any problem in using the Calibur. About the remaining two, I would rather not, as you thought. You already know. Some kind of respect, I think...", Cage replied. Her full answer hadn't a hint of sadness as they would have expected when thinking about Ares. And it was right that way. He wouldn't have liked his friend or anyone to mourn him for such a long time. 

"Cage, if you are going, I'm going too", Myona replied, softly but also energetic. 

"You too, Myona?", Semyl asked, curious first, then she hugged her friend, "We'll be together in the battlefield again, as I'm going too!", she said, cheerfully. 

"Just leave the poor gal, or you'll kill her right there", Razma said, pointing out the fact that Semyl's hug was too tough for anyone to bare. 

"Well, let's ask it the other way round", Robin interrupted, getting a bit impatient as she still didn't know how many would go and who would stay. 

"I'm staying", Mebius replied, with Lia in her arms. "I don't feel like battling today, I prefer staying here with Lia while taking care of that girl Hazel", she said sweetly, while playing with Lia. 

Yukito could tell that Warren, despite wearing his sunglasses that prevented everyone to tell where he was looking, was enjoying that picture of Mebius and Lia playing together, so he just said, 

"Pops, you already had you fighting tie today, we'll take good care without you, so you just stay here" 

"Sorry, Yukito, but if Mebius' staying, I would prefer if Warren goes with you", Robin said, naturally, "The Vyaja is at the lab, so I need someone to pilot at least one OF" 

"You already heard Robin", Warren replied coldly. He sure would have liked to stay. 

"If it's too much trouble, I go. I don't mind", Mebius replied, staring at Robin, Warren and Yukito. 

"No, you are staying, Mebius", Warren told her, a bit brusquely. 

"Alright, so Myona, Cage, Warren, Semyl and Yukito are going?", Robin asked, trying to remember all the ones that offered their help. 

"What, you don't count me in?", Razma protested from the other point of the room, where he had been listening to the conversation, without talking too much. 

"Oh, and Razma", Robin added, thinking in the group. "Still, I think we need another OF... Mebius, can I use the Orcrist? I feel like going into the scene today...", she said, excited but calm. 

"All yours", was Mebius answer, who was too busy with Lia. It was useless to talk to her when she focused in the little girl. "Will you be able to handle it?", she asked later, but without paying attention. 

"Well, I think so!", she replied, smiling and giggling. 

"So, let's go!", Semyl suggested. 

"I'm going to the hangar", Razma said, seconds before going into the room where all their vehicles were waiting until being used. 

"All right take care", Mebius said, cheerfully. Then, she looked to her right, frowned and, annoyed and imperative, she asked, "Hazel, what are you doing here?!? You are supposed to be resting! Aren't you feeling well?" 

The others turned to the right, and they could see the young, light blue-haired woman standing in the corridor, outside the first aid room. She seemed tired, and was walking to the deck with some difficulty, as if she were dizzy. 

"I'm alright", Hazel replied, advancing little by little. Soon, with the help of Mebius, she was able to reach a chair and sat down. 

"I'm ok, it's just that I'm a bit dizzy after being in a bed for quite some time", she said softly, smiling. "Is anything wrong? I just wanted to walk a bit", she explained, staring at their confused faces. 

"No, we are alright. It's just that we hadn't expected that you would want to get up that soon", Semyl explained, still confused. The others nodded. 

"You don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself alone...", Hazel replied, but she interrupted herself. Her face showed surprise, but not fear. 

"Guys... just... who are you?!?", she asked, staring at the now opened door. Her voice was a mix of rage, surprise and incredulity, but no one could tell what she was feeling. 

Just in that moment, Razma came back from the hangar, and when he opened the door, Hazel could see the figure of the vehicles, basically, she could see the figure of the Durandal II and Justeen, and the shadow of the Orchrist and the Caliburnus. 

Hazel stood up and went straight to that door, and stared at the LEVs and OFs. Razma was standing next to the door, as if he were petrified. He knew he had spoiled everything, but he didn't know how to react. 

There was a strange, uncomfortable silence all over the room. After some never-ending minutes, Hazel asked, now calmer than before, yet inquiring, "Guys, again, who are you?!? These aren't normal LEVs! And this last two are Orbital Frames! Even a small child could tell the difference! Who are you? Are you from the UNSF? Or worst... are you from the BAHRAM?!?" No one replied, and she was getting more and more nervous. "Come on! Say something!", she yelled, lowering her head, as if she wanted to contain her tears. 

Mebius was the first one to react. 

"No, we aren't from BAHRAM", she said, calmly, although she was also nervous, "We are against BAHRAM, but also against the colonial measures from Earth" 

"You mean you are no BAHRAM and yet no UNSF", Hazel replied, coldly, facing the group. "So, who are you? One of those so called terrorists groups?" 

"We are known as BIS...", Robin replied, nervously. She regretted having followed Yukito's advice of not telling the stranger about them from the beginning. 

"That group who was first accused of sinking the Bonaparte III almost two years ago?", she asked suspiciously. 

"That one...", Cage answered, his answer turning into a whisper at its end. 

"In that case", Hazel asked, still not convinced, "why had you hidden it? Are you ashamed of that?" 

"No, it's just that... we thought it was better not to say it, as we knew nothing from you", Yukito replied, taking responsibility of his own suggestion. "I'm sorry for that idea", he said to the others, especially to Robin, who would have hit him in another occasion. 

"Is everything alright now, Hazel?", Mebius asked, worried. 

"I'm fine... It's the surprise", Hazel said, slowly. Then, she noticed the incoming signal and the radar, and she said, "You should better go. That thing must be warning an attack or something like that. I'm ok. Just go", she said, staring at it. Her voice sounded distant, and as if she were to cry at any moment. However, she turned back, with an open smile, "Hey, what are you waiting for? The civilians will be already roasted if you don't go!", she said, trying to sound cheerfully. "We can talk later" 

The others nodded, and went into the hangar. In a few minutes time, they were out in their vehicles, and their figures were soon lost. Only Twede, Mebius, Lia and Hazel stayed at the Saoshyant. 

Hazel went next to a big window and stayed there, silently. Mebius could feel it was like a sad silence, but she preferred not to ask. Instead, she stayed in that room, playing with the little Lia, while Twede, silent as ever, was in the deck, taking care of the Saoshyant. 

The light blue-haired girl stayed next to the window, watching the outskirts of the city from that huge, mobile fortress. With a bitter sigh, she whispered, just for herself, "In what have I gotten myself into?" She looked lost in her thoughts again, and some moments later, she sighed again, and whispered for a second time, "In what have you gotten yourself into, Hazel Drajner...?" 

*****

What an impersonal start, without any introduction, anything, uh? Sorry for that. I was "studying" how to use this server's system, and well, I forgot the introduction. Anyway, this fic is a sequel to Fist of Mars (as I said before and as you had already realized =P), and will only affect the cast of Fist of Mars (this means, no references to the first ZOE game or to 2nd runner). I know this may make some people to stop reading, but well, it's worth the note.  
Hope you like my sequel, and please, review. Criticism is welcome (even if it hurts, but don't be harsh! =P). 


	3. Second strike

Chapter 3: Second strike 

The small BIS squad was on its way to the attacked place. It was just a few minutes ride from where the Saoshyant was parked, some kilometers away from the city. The atmosphere among the BIS members was rather dense, as if they all felt guilty of Hazel's outburst, which no one had expected. The only thing each pilot could hear was the noises proper of their respective vehicles, the natural sound of the LEVs going through the Martian landscape or the sound of the Orbital Frames while flying over the same scenery. 

After some minutes of going like this, silently, Yukito spoke, breaking the glacial atmosphere. 

"Sorry for that idea of hiding our identity from that gal. I never thought she would react like that", he said, apologizing. He really regretted that. 

"It's alright. What's done is done, and we can't change it", Robin replied, saddened. She also felt particularly guilty, as she was now the head of BIS. What would have Deckson done in their situation was the doubt that she had right in that moment, but nobody could reply that. 

"Guess that we shouldn't use that tactic again, if there's another chance", Semyl replied, coldly. That was far too much. Semyl wasn't easy to become cold, especially with Myona and Cage around, but she was feeling like garbage from being part of that acting. 

"We can't keep on thinking in what we had done, but in the actual situation!", Razma said, trying to cheer everyone up. "Then, when we are back, we can chat all the times we want about this, with or without the blue-haired lass", he went on, trying to sound unaffected by the incident. 

"If it wasn't for your coming into the room from the hangar, none of this would have happened, so don't try to act like you have nothing to do with this!", Semyl replied him angrily, almost yelling. 

"Who knows? Maybe you will end up thanking me for that coming", he just replied, normally. 

"Hmph!", Semyl sighed, annoyed. 

"Do you really think so?", Robin's voice came from the speaker. 

"Why not? If she would have been furious she would have left before we did", Razma answered, "Instead, she decided to stay. I don't think she had left at all". 

"Seeing it that way, it seems possible", Warren said. 

"What do you think, Cage, Myona?", Semyl asked the young couple, who was busy in remember the basic controls of LEVs. After all, a year and a half without any direct contact with a LEV or OF can mess someone's knowledge, especially if you don't have an AI to help you around. 

"Well, she reminds me somehow", Cage replied, over the controls. "I mean, I didn't want to accept the truth either at first. Remember that only after Ned's attack to the hospital I decided to join you". 

"Maybe Razma's right", Myona replied "She was just shocked, in my opinion. Too many changes in less than a day: her working place fells under attack, then a bunch of people appear right before her, and they say a thing and then another...". 

"Sorry to interrupt the chat, but Twede's telling us that we are almost there", Yukito interrupted, with the fresh data, and just in time to put the attention in another thing but in his error. 

"Alright, let's go get 'em!", Semyl exclaimed, returning to her normal, cheerful self. 

"Seems we'll have some tough work", Robin said, checking the map which was being displayed in the Orcrist's screen. 

It was a civilian area, and that only brings more troubles. There were six unidentified LEVs, all basic combat ones, at least in appearance. They were blocking a block, four controlling each one a corner of the block, one patrolling the area, and the remaining one parked in front of a house. It seems the unknown group knew perfectly well where they had to go. 

"Don't think so", Razma said, after checking the map. "We can split and finish them soon. We are four LEVs and two OFs, and those seem to be just LEVs" 

"I wouldn't trust that much", Cage interrupted the red-haired guy. "Remember Testament. It seemed a normal and common LEV, and it turned out being a high-developed Orbital Frame", he said, without any hint of sorrow in his voice. Certainly, he had matured. He learnt not to grieve in past things and to lock himself from reality... and everybody, with his actions, could sense that. 

"Cage's right", Warren said, getting in the conversation. "They may be underestimating everyone, and so they go out in normal LEVs, or they have something much more powerful under their sleeve" 

"Yes, but who could it be that 'them' we speak about?", Myona asked, repairing in something that was being forgotten by anyone, apparently. 

"It could be the UNSF, or even the remaining of the BAHRAM", Warren replied her. 

"You mean that the Hellespontos cell could still be active?", Cage asked back, thinking in the events of a year and a half ago. 

"It could be... or they sent people from another counties to start their plans here, again", Warren replied again. 

"Yes, but they lost too much power lately", Robin said. "But that doesn't mean that they are inactive here or in other places" 

"And about the UNSF, they don't have a good excuse to attack anything here, and less to kidnap people, if it's like Hazel said", Yukito's voice sounded through the speakers. 

"Haze..., ah the girl! Ah, don't worry, they'll find an excuse quickly for that in case they are behind this", Razma replied, sceptical about that. 

"Hey, isn't that the same LEV of before?!", Semyl asked, far too surprised. "That one in front that white house!" 

Having returned the others to the "battlefield", they checked Semyl's doubt. 

"Yes..:! That's the same LEV that escaped from the factory", Razma exclaimed excited, and then he said to Semyl, "See? You can be useful from time to time" 

"You!!!!!!!!", she yelled angrily, and a fight was going to start soon, if it wasn't stopped by the others. 

"Hey, it's not the right time to quarrel! Then you may fight if you want, but not now!", Yukito told the young 'couple'. "Believe me, you almost like a married couple", he added next, grinning. 

"You!!!!!!", both Razma and Semyl yelled at him at the unison, denying something that was... obvious? 

"You'll never change, will you?", Myona giggled, cheerfully. "I really missed this" 

"Enough of this. What are we gonna do?", Razma asked, evading the topic he started. 

"Well, there are six LEVs, and only 5 active", Robin said, checking the Orcrist's screen, where the data was displayed. "I say that Yukito, Semyl and Razma go to the ones in the corners, while Warren and I take care of the wandering LEV and the parked one", she said, analyzing the data while planning her strategy. 

"And what about us, Miss Robin?", Cage asked her, from the Calibur. 

"I would prefer you to stay here, checking that there won't be an ambush or that they won't kidnap anybody. It's better. If they make another move, or come with reinforcements, you'll be here", she replied the dark blue-haired youth. "You've been out of the battlefield for quite some time, so I think it's better not to expose you too much". 

"Ok", Cage replied, although he wasn't very pleased. He didn't want to fight right now, but now that he was there he wanted to do something more active than just being there, like a statue. On the other hand, he was glad because he wouldn't have to remember quickly how to operate a LEV, and he could chat with Myona about their arrival. 

"Remember not to shoot first, and if those LEVs try something suspicious and don't answer to your questions, then, attack", Robin advised everyone. She really sounded like a mother, and Razma noticed that, saying, 

"Yeah, mommy Robin, everything will be ok". 

"Everything set? So let's go!", Semyl exclaimed, cheerfully as ever. If she loved something, that had to be the sensation of adrenaline running through her body. "Myona, take care! You too, Cage", she told them, while driving her LEV to the corner she was said to go. 

"Alright, you too, Semy!", Myona replied back, smiling at her dear friend's face, displayed on the screen. 

The squad was going to their places, but they were soon spotted by the unknown squad, who started the fire after some moments, in which they had to be delivering about their course of action. Soon, that block was a chaos, as many civilians came from their houses to see what made all that fuss, and many went into their houses, and others flew as fast as they could. 

"You said you wanted some action, 'darling'?", Myona asked ironically to Cage, while guiding him to one of the corners, where Razma was having some trouble with one of those strange LEVs. 

"Don't say it twice, 'sweety'", he replied her, driving the Calibur fast, evading any shicked civilian who was walking in that street. 

"I know.... aahhhh! Left, left!!", she yelled nervously. They were about to strike a man who was just happening to be walking in that street, unaware of the LEVs. "Can't this thing fly? Others could do it!", she exclaimed still nervous, after Cage made a huge effort to evade the man, who just stayed there, staring at the LEV and cursing them. 

"No. Only OFs could fly, if I don't recall wrong", Cage replied her, concentrated in his driving. 

"At least we are at our destination. Razma's over there", Myona told him, pointing at the fire-haired youth LEV, the Dreizehn, which was struggling against a similar LEV. 

"Thank goodness you came", Razma's voice could be heard in the Calibur. "I though you were never coming", he added, both worried and tired. 

"Hey, we had to do some slalom before getting here", Cage replied him, annoyed. "I just hope no one will die". 

"You mean, those civilians who decided to escape or to get a look?", Razma replied him, while attacking the enemy LEV with his Long Rifle. "I think they'll just escape as rats. Those unknown LEVs want us out, they don't care about the civilians" 

"That's the point", Cage replied, firing the Beam Cannon towards the other LEV. "They could use them as hostages to make us retreat" 

"Cage, don't think things like that!", Myona protested, refusing to believe in that idea. 

"Yeah, shut up and don't give them ideas!", Razma replied angrily, after being hit by that annoying LEV. 

"Cage, Myona, I need your help!", Semyl's voice resounded all over the Calibur. "I need to replenish my HP, else I'm gone soon!" 

"Alright, going", Cage replied her. 

"Hey, what about me?", Razma asked, now annoyed with Semyl. "I can't take care of this one all alone!" 

"Razma, will be back as soon as we can", Cage replied him calmly. "Semyl also needs us" 

"Alright, go", Razma said, upset. 

"Cage, what will we do with the civilians?! We have to do something about them!", Myona asked her companion, worried about those people who were trying to escape, or who just were there, for some unknown reason. 

"First, we'll heal Semyl, then we'll see", was Cage's cold answer. 

"Cage, Myona, how are you doing there?", Robin asked them from her OF. 

"Well, just handling it the best we can", Cage replied briefly, evading an enemy bullet. 

"We have to do something about that people!", Myona exclaimed worried. "Can't we do anything, Miss Robin?" 

"First heal Semyl, then we'll see", she replied, thoughtfully. "You see, there's not much space in the Calibur to take many people, and you could be an easy target for the enemy. Just evade and protect the people the best you can" 

"Ok", Myona nodded. The communication with Robin was over. 

"Hey, what's this?", Cage said, staring at the Calibur's computer screen. 

"What?", Myona asked, curiously. 

"Read the screen, it's an incoming text message!", Cage replied surprised. "Who could be sending it?" 

"Hey, guys, will you take long?", Semyl's voice asked, anxiously. "That damn thing won't stop until I explode all over the airs!" 

"We are almost there, Semy", Myona replied, quickly. "We have received something" 

"What? Anyway, hurry up!" 

"We are next to you, we are replenishing your HPs", Cage replied, giving the order to the Calibur to replenish the Caliburnus HP. 

"What does it say, Cage?", Myona asked him from the other point of the LEV. 

"It says I'll take care of the civilians. Just go and crush those LEVs", he replied, thoughtfully, as trying to remember something. 

"And who sent it?", she asked him, walking to where the screen was. 

"It doesn't say... it's quite strange. Who could hack into our network?", he replied, still searching in his mind for a clue. 

"I don't have idea... Hey, look!", Myona exclaimed, pointing forward. 

There was a new LEV, different to theirs and to the other group's LEVs. Apparently, it was a huge, normal transport LEV, used for transporting merchandises, medical stuff or even money for a bank. It's door was opened, and a figure was waving to all the civilians it could see to get into its LEV. 

"Who could it be?", Myona asked, quite surprised. "Whoever it is, he or she is helping us greatly". 

"I...", Cage started saying, resigned. But he interrupted himself, and smiling, he said now, "I think I have a slight idea who it could be" 

"Really?", his purple haired companion asked. "Won't you tell me who do you think it is?" 

"Hey, merry couple", Razma's voice came from the speakers, loudly. "When are you planning to help me? This thing won't die, you know" 

"We are on our way, Razma", Cage replied, driving the Calibur in Razma's direction. He had a strong premonition, and it seemed to be a good one, due to his smile, which wouldn't fell from his face. 

"And? Who do you think it is?", Myona asked him again, anxiously. 

"Later I'll tell you. Now, guide me. I don't want to crush into any civilian", he just said, calmly. 

They reached Razma's side, just to find Semyl and Yukito fighting with him. Robin was still dealing with her opponent LEV, and Warren had just finished with the wanderer one. 

In a couple of minutes, the LEV group finished the enemy LEV off, and Warren was helping Robin with her opponent. 

"Cage, someone's coming from that white house!", Myona exclaimed, pointing the house which had the park LEV in front of it. 

"Hey, that's the woman from before!", Semyl yelled, excited. 

"Yeah, she's right!", Yukito added, after examining her from the distance. 

"And she's bringing someone with her", Razma said, noticing a middle-aged man behind her. 

"We have to stop her from carrying that man in her LEV", Robin said, imperatively. 

"How do you know his not one of his fellows?", Yukito asked, curious. 

"You can't see them from there, but the guy has handcuffs", Warren stated, coldly. 

"Enough chat, prevent her from getting into her LEV!", Robin ordered, but a strange sound made everyone turn back. 

"Oh, damn it!", Razma cursed, angrily. "Reinforcements!" 

"Boys, we are in trouble", Semyl stated, annoyed. 

"Alright. Pops, can you back us up?", Yukito asked Warren. "We go straight to them, while Robin fights that gal with Myona and Cage" 

"Alright. Going", Warren replied. 

Unexpectedly, a LEV came out from the garage of the house next door, and the blonde-haired woman, the same one who seemed in charge of everything back at the facility where the group rescued Hazel, pushed the man she was taking as some kind of hostage into the new LEV, and then she got into her own one. 

"Argh! These guys have a great timing!", Robin complained sadly. "Warren, go and stop that new LEV, now!", she ordered him. "I'll go soon, but first I want to knock this LEV down!" 

"I'm going", Warren replied, resigned. 

Cage drove the Calibur and left it facing the woman's LEV, while Robin did the same in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Yukito, Razma and Semyl were having a hard time, but not as tough as before. 

"Crap!", the woman insulted, noticing she was somewhat blocked. Unless she did something strange, she was trapped. 

Just then, another unknown LEV showed up from nowhere. This one seemed much more different than all the others, as it seemed highly developed. However, it didn't attacked. 

"Don't over-expose yourself, Ruth", a male voice resounded in everyone's vehicles. "We already have what we were looking for. Retreat now!" 

"But... Mister...", the woman's voice replied, complaining. 

"Retreat now, I tell you!", the male voice ordered, harshly. 

"Ok...", the woman mumbled, as a reply. She did a 90° turn with her LEV and managed to escape from Robin and Cage, who just stayed there, without understanding anything of what was happening. 

"And you", the woman voice talked again, this time for the BIS group, "whoever are you. You'll just pay it and regret it for messing with me!", and then, she escaped. 

All the other units did the same, but Warren, with the help of Yukito, Razma and Semyl, managed to trap the LEV where the hostage civilian was. After some shots, the LEV surrendered, and its pilot flew as fast as it could. 

And so did the trapped civilian. As soon as he saw the LEV door opened, he got from it and started running as fast as he could, without even thanking anybody. 

"Great, the second time in a day that happens the same", Yukito said, referring to the middle-aged hostage. 

"Well, I just hope that none of the civilians are harmed", Robin said, relieved. 

"Ah! That mystery LEV!", Cage exclaimed, and immediately, he started the Calibur engine. 

"Cage? What's with you?", Semyl asked, worried and surprised by that attitude. 

"Myona, can you see it in the radar?", Cage asked quickly, barely paying attention to Semyl's question. 

"Yes, it's a block away from where we saw it", she replied, excited. 

"Alright, I'm going!", Cage exclaimed, in haste. 

"What's he talking about?", Razma asked, without understanding anything about what they were saying. 

"They received a mail message from some LEV, and they want to know who was the sender", Robin replied calmly. "Let's check the area for something interesting and then we meet them" 

"As you say", Yukito replied.

* * *

"Cage, you are going too fast!", Myona complained, fearing that now he would crush into a civilian accidentally. 

"Sorry, but I can't let this opportunity to slip by", he just replied, still driving fast. "Look! It's still there! Maybe if I can block its way...", he added, thinking in a good strategy to block the LEVs path. 

The last and "allied" mystery LEV was just closing its door, after releasing the last civilian it was able to protect. And it also guessed Cage's intention, because it started to go backwards, so it would be able to escape from Cage. 

"Oh, crap!", Cage cursed, annoyed. "He guessed what I was going to do!" 

"How do you know it's a 'him'?", Myona asked her blue-haired companion. 

"The same premonition as before", was his simple answer. "Oh, no, he'll just escape after all!", he complained, still annoyed. 

But suddenly, another LEV appeared, blocking the desired path. The mystery LEV was trapped, after all. 

"Yukito!", Cage replied, recognizing the 'Justeen'. "Thank goodness you came!" 

"It was far too boring there, so I've decided to join you", he replied, smiling. "Seems I came in the right moment" 

"You have that sense of opportunity that makes you unique", Myona said, giggling later. 

"I'll take that as a compliment, oh, milady", Yukito replied, making fun of that last comment, and making Myona. Meanwhile, Cage succeeded in finding a way to communicate with the trapped LEV. 

"Thanks for your help, whoever you are", Cage said, a bit nervously and awkwardly. "Who are you? Why are you escaping from us, if you helped us before?" 

The other LEV didn't replied. 

"Hello? Are you still there?", Cage insisted, nervous. 

"What is it? There's no one inside?", Myona asked Cage, looking at the Calibur's screen for any incoming text message. 

Then, a text message came, replying. 

"Let's meet outside our LEVs is the only thing it says", Cage read loudly the small note that appeared in the Calibur's screen. "Alright, I'm going!", he exclaimed, opening the Calibur's door. 

"Cage!", Myona cried, also nervously. "You aren't thinking in going outside, are you?" 

Cage just nodded. 

"Please, Cage, take care" 

"I will", he replied, and got off his LEV. 

"He plans to what?!", Razma asked, from the other point of the block. He had been listening the group's conversation, and now he didn't know what was going on. 

"Yeah, but don't worry. If anything happens, I can shoot the LEV", Yukito replied. 

Cage walked a few meters away from the Calibur, waiting for the driver of the LEV to come from it. But there was no hint of anybody. Suddenly, the door of the LEV opens, and a figure comes out from it. It was a familiar figure for everybody... 

"Ares? Is that you, Ares!?!", Cage asked, astonished, to the tall, light green short-haired figure who was coming out from the LEV. 

"What? Is that I had changed a lot since the last time you saw me?", the familiar, almost harsh voice asked to a petrified Cage, who couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. 

"But it can't be... how?", Cage just mumbled, blinking his eyes several times to check that the Ares that was standing in front of him was not an illusion, a product of his mind, affected by all the past memories in Mars of a year and a half ago. 

"But if it's like you've seen a ghost", Ares replied him, smiling lightly. "Well, I don't blame you...", he added, coldly. 

He looked almost the same as a year and a half ago, before vanishing with the Iblis and Testament in their solution to stop the Marlblanke Dite, Zephyrs' 'post mortem' gift for Mars. His hair was slightly brighter than before, and his eyes had the same calm, yet lost expression. He seemed, as always, much mature for his age, but he still looked young; after all, he wasn't even 20 yet... His taciturn expression hadn't vanished also, but it also showed some hint of confidence, more than before. 

"Ares, you are alive!!", Cage said after all, hugging his long thought gone friend. "Come on, let's return to BIS and you'll tell us everything here", Cage invited Ares, without thinking it twice. 

"Will it be all ok...?", Ares asked shyly, but was interrupted by a now over-excited Cage. 

"Yes, don't ever doubt it. Everyone will be glad to see you! Come, this way!". 

Cage lead Ares to the Calibur, where Myona was waiting for him... inside. 

"Cage, you are unharmed!", she exclaimed when she saw his sweetheart getting into the Calibur. 

"Yeah, and see who's here", he said, while Ares was getting into it. 

The purple haired girl got nearer to take a look, but she never thought the surprise she would find. Nor did Ares expected that. The two siblings stayed in their places, looking at each other, almost open-mouthed, without saying anything. Lastly, Myona muttered, shyly, 

"Ares... Brother... is that you?" 

"Hi... Myona", Ares replied, also shyly. "How have you been?" 

And with that, she run to her brother's arms and hugged him, as if there were no tomorrow. 

--- 

"Cage, are you alright?", Yukito asked the blue haired boy, when he realized he wasn't in the pavement anymore. 

"Yeah, we can go now", Cage just replied, hiding his small secret. 

"Was it the same person I think it was?", Yukito asked back, suspecting something. 

"Yeah, it is", Cage replied, understanding his message. "Let's go back to the Saoshyant". 

"Do you want me to tell the others now?", the green haired runner asked. 

"Just tell them we've got something interesting", Cage replied, smiling. 

"Ok. They said they couldn't find anything important neither in the area nor inside the house. Seems that the civilians won't talk to us", Yukito told him, as a full report of the situation in the other side of the block. 

"Alright, later they'll tell us more"

* * *

"Cage, are you sure there isn't any problem with me being here?", Ares asked his friend suspiciously, now at the Saoshyant's deck. Cage had gone full speed so they could arrive shortly and give a 'surprise' to everybody. 

"No, stay calm. Everything will be alright", Cage replied, calming him down. 

"Shh! They are coming!", Myona silenced them, listening the vehicles engines turning off. 

She almost couldn't finish her phrase before the others got off from their LEVs and OFs, and everyone stood still when they realized Ares was there. Soon, they were all gathered around the couple and Ares. 

"How... is this possible?", Semyl exclaimed shocked, "You are supposed to be dead!" 

"I know that I shouldn't have eaten too much at dinner", Razma joked, still disbelieving. 

"I have no words for this", Warren mumbled, so astonished that he almost took off his sunglasses to see if he wasn't having hallucinations. 

"Ummm... welcome back, Ares", Robin kind of greeted him, also not knowing what to say. 

"See? I old you he had found something interesting!", Yukito joked, trying to make everyone aware that they weren't dreaming. "He's the real man who came back from death!" 

"Hi, guys", Ares replied, as a sort of greeting, making an effort, as he didn't want to show he was nervous, embarrassed and many other strange feelings. 

After the first impression of surprise, it was time for the questions. 

"How did you escape?" "You are supposed to be six feet under!" "Where had you been?" questions like that were repeated at light speed. It was such the chaos there, that soon the door leading to the main part of the Saoshyant opened, and Twede, Hazel and Mebius carrying Lia appeared from it. 

Mebius seemed shock as soon as she saw Ares, and she just mumbled, "Oh my... this can't be". Twede, instead, remained silent and gave a small smile. Hazel was the one lost in that scene. 

"Oh, you don't know each other!", Robin exclaimed, thinking she was acting oddly. "Hazel, this one here is Ares Enduwa. Ares, this is Hazel Drajner, a girl we helped earlier today", she introduced them, staring at each other as she was introducing them. 

"Hi", greeted Hazel shyly, waving at him. 

"Hi", Ares replied, also waving at her, but a bit awkwardly. 

"Hazel and I were going out", Twede said, coldly as ever. "She says she wants to pick up some things from her place. I want to go and try to gather more data", he said, leading Hazel's way to the Calibur. 

"Alright", Robin approved that 'plan'. 

"Guys, thanks for everything", Hazel said a bit coldly, before getting into the Calibur. 

"Will you return?", Robin asked her, but the door was already closed, and so, she had no answer. 

"Don't worry, Robin", Mebius told her, smiling. "I'm sure she'll come back" 

"I hope you are right", she replied her, a bit sad. She also seemed to have liked the light blue haired youth, and didn't want her to leave BIS. Then, somehow refreshed, she faced Ares. 

"But how did you do to survive? How are you here?", she asked him, without finding any logic answer. 

"Well", Ares replied back, calmly, "It's a long story...", he said, smiling lightly. 

* * *

Alright, I know many people could think that reviving Ares is useless, stupid, or it's highly unreal, but he's one of my favorite characters, and I'm following the 25-scene route, so it's not that impossible that he could have survived (in my opinion, I already have a good excuse to explain that), and there's no certain evidence of his death in that route, so... Ares' back! Well, from now on, I think that the new chapters won't be up as soon as this three were, but I'll try to make the story progress smoothly, maybe I can release a chapter or two per month (I think that a chapter per month is something I can handle, but two... who knows). I hope I made myself clear (for some reason, I think that no one understood me =P). Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know that I suck at writing combat scenes, but hey, it's the best I an do. Please, read and review! See you! 


	4. Lights thought gone

Chapter 4: "Lights thought gone" 

The whole BIS gang proceeded into the Saoshyant's main room, where everybody looked for a place to stay comfortable while listening to Ares' story. Of, course, that didn't take long. 

"Well, I guess it's time to listen your story, Ares", Robin said, sharing a sofa with Warren and Mebius, who was holding Lia in her arms. Razma and Yukito were sitting in a chair, and Semyl was sitting on a table. 

"It's quite long", Ares, who was sharing another sofa with Cage and Myona, replied. "I may not repeat it later, as I don't enjoy recalling it" 

"You say it for Twede?", Robin asked him. 

Ares nodded. 

"Don't worry, he'll end up knowing about it by himself. He always does that. About Hazel, we don't know what she'll do, if she'll stay with us or she'll just vanish, now that she's outside" 

"Alright", Ares replied, making himself comfortable in his part of the sofa, so he could feel better while telling his story. 

"I was inside the Iblis, flying along Testament in our way to collapse against the Marlblanke Dite, when I felt something strange. I didn't know what it could be, and then, the Iblis' hatch opened, and I found myself... flying across the sky, in what once was the cockpit of the Iblis. The Iblis projected it, with me within, to protect me....", he said, like telling an old, mystic tale, as if he had gone through that a very long time ago. There was a small hint of sorrow in his voice. "I don't know where it landed, as I fainted. I can just recall being in a bed, at some hospital, astonished that I was still alive. The doctors said I've been in a sort of comma or unconscious state for some weeks, and they were astonished that I was almost completely alright when I came from it, without any sequels. I had to stay there for some months, doing my rehabilitation, and then they got me a job as a driver of sorts, carrying medical stuff within Hellespontos. That's why I have a LEV", he said, smiling lightly, referring to his transport LEV, in which he "collected" civilians in their last battle, their "reunion battle". 

"With that job I could have a decent living, and the doctors at the Hospital could follow my progress, thing that they wouldn't have been able to do if I got another kind of job. What's more, it was a somewhat easy work, so I could avoid becoming stressed, and that's what they wanted for me, something easy and the most relaxed I could do, under their control". 

"Basically, that's all", he said, simply. "It took me a while to get used to normal live again, and to my new working life, as it was quite different from what I was used to do. And that medical center had resigned my contract a few months ago, so I was just going from a place to the other to find a new job, but I hadn't find anything yet. That's the shortened version of my long story, the only one I feel like telling", he said, trying to speak normally, although his voice had a hint of sadness and pain. 

"And what where you doing in that area where Cage found you?", Semyl asked, curiously and interested. 

"Well, I had just delivered a parcel, and I was doing my way home, when I saw some strange LEVs around, and then I saw you, guys. Of course, I could tell it was you from the very first time, and I was thinking in running away, but then I noticed those civilians in the street and I decided to lend you a hand, and to vanish later, but I just couldn't", he said, smiling lightly, "Someone got me before I could even start my engine", he said, looking at Cage. 

"I wasn't going to let you escape", Cage replied, "I had the feeling that it was you". 

"Hey, did we treat you so badly that you wanted to escape?", Semyl asked him, faking a whining voice. 

"It's not that...", Ares replied, thoughtfully. "It's just that... I don't know, maybe I didn't want to return to my old life, after all" 

"What do you mean? To have battle after battle, or to hang around us?", Razma asked, trying to cheer up the returning youth. 

"Or was it that you... fear something?", Myona asked her brother seriously, afraid of his possible answer. She feared her brother would start seeking revenge again. 

Ares stayed silent for a while, with his head lowered and a taciturn expression. 

"It's just that I don't want to hurt anybody anymore, I don't want to be my former self", he replied, after some moments. "The life I had after the explosion was quiet and calm. I was free at last from my own demons. I was living the life I should have had, in a way. And although it's not as I would have expected and there were things or people I didn't have near, like Myona, Cage, all of you...", he said, facing the people he was referring to when he named them. "...it was a new life, a second chance I was given. I don't want to lose the few things I've gained in this short period", he said, somehow melancholic. 

"Besides, I thought it would be best for you to believe I was dead. I would just be a burden, something that you have to look after or protect, and that's the last thing I want to be.", he said, now with determination. "And about the battles, I still don't know if I want to fight again. I've done far too much damage, yet I still want to help to stop all this mess". 

Everyone stared at him, not knowing what to say. Surely, he hadn't had a nice time throughout all of his life, but he was determined to not commit the same mistake again. He was decided to live his own life. 

"That was all", Ares said, ending his story, as if he had lost a heavy weight he had been carrying over his shoulders. 

Everyone stayed silent for a short while, until Robin broke the silence. 

"Ares, you say that the Iblis ejected its own cockpit?", she asked, shyly. 

"Yes" 

"It's strange...", she said, thoughtfully. "That would demonstrate the Orbital Frames feel something for their runners and, thus, they protect their pilots. There have been some rumors lately..." 

"We've seen it with Testament, Robin", Cage just said. 

That sentence refreshed their memory. Not that they had already forgotten that day, it won't be that easy to erase that memory, only that the new BIS leader has just omitted it for a minute. Pharsti had sacrificed herself to protect Cage and everyone, so wanted to do Ares, but the Iblis didn't allowed him to do it. 

"You are right, Cage, thanks", Robin replied, softly and smiling. 

"So, you mean that OFs can feel and think?", Semyl asked, curious. 

"At least, they can feel attached to the runner, so in a way, that could be...", Robin said, not sure of her answer. 

Instead, for Cage the answer could be affirmative, but he didn't answer to that question. 

"Hey, Ares, what are you going to do now?", Yukito asked him, trying to cheer the atmosphere up. 

"Well, I don't know now", the light haired youth replied, worried. "I think I'll go on with my search for a job..." 

"What? You can stay here, you know", Razma interrupted him, quickly. 

"Yes, that would be great!", Semyl approved, happily. 

"You could tag along Cage and Myona everyday", Mebius offered him, smiling. 

"We need people, and now you are unemployed... think it well, pal", Yukito said. 

"C'mon Ares! We had just returned from our trip, let's spend some time together!", Cage joined the others, excited. 

"Brother, stay with us", Myona told him, softly. 

Ares stared at everyone. They seemed happy to have him again, he could tell that even Warren was happy. He thought it for a small moment, then he replied, 

"Alright, I'm staying". 

Everyone's smiles grew even bigger, and he felt relieved after saying that. 

"Welcome to BIS, Ares", Robin greeted him, also smiling. 

"Thanks", he replied back. 

"Oh, wait, I hadn't introduced you to our little BIS member!", Mebius exclaimed, in haste. "This is Lia, Ares", she said, handing the little girl to Ares. 

He stared at her for some moments, watching her greeting him, staring at her little body. She was a little, cute child, innocent and happy, what everyone deserved to be. He felt odd while staring at her, for some reason. 

"She's cute", he said, looking her still blonde hair. 

"A lady gave her to Razma in a basket. She's an orphan, but we decided to bring her up" 

"Now that you mention it...", Semyl said, glaring at Razma. Her eyes seemed quite evil... 

"Argh!! Why did you mention it?!?", Razma exclaimed, standing up from his chair quickly. He already knew what Semyl's glare meant, and it still hurt him from the last time... 

"Stay there, or you'll suffer!", Semyl threatened him. 

"Or else? You'll hurt me anyway" 

"Enough!", Robin exclaimed, annoyed. They've been arguing for the entire day, and it was getting boring. 

"She's already two years old", Mebius said, as maternal as she was, returning to the topic of Lia. "Isn't she beautiful, Ares?" 

"Yes, she is", he replied, still thoughtfully. "And she got her second chance soon... Great for her", he said. Everyone could tell there was some sorrow in his voice. 

"Well, I guess it's time for us to take a rest, isn't it?", Robin said, tired. "It's been a tough day..." 

"Yeah, two attacks in a day, Cage and Myona return, Ares also returns, we even meet a girl...", Yukito started counting. 

"Ah, new girl!", Robin screamed, totally ashamed of herself. "What about Hazel, Mebius? I had forgotten about her!" 

Mebius frowned, but she said, "She's a good girl, I know that. She just stood there, silent, but when Twede said he would go to find some data, she asked him if she could go with him. She didn't say if she would return or not" 

"I don't think she's in the mood to return", Yukito said, and soon he received an "almost glare" from Robin. After all, the idea to invent everything was his. 

"Maybe she comes back", Mebius said, cheerfully. "She was too... shocked. It was as if she needed time to get used to the idea of us being BIS" 

"Alright, we'll discuss this later", Robin said, yawning. "Sorry for that last one", she apologized quickly. "It's been a tough day..." 

"Yes, I guess it's time to catch some Zs", Yukito agreed, going directly to his room. 

"Yes, it's time...", Semyl said, also yawning. "Robin, you are to blame! Don't you remember that those are contagious?!", the red hair girl reproached her 'superior'. 

"Well, see you later, guys", she said, waving at everyone. "Myona, be prepared because I won't let you rest even for a moment. We have so many things to talk", Semyl added, as cheerfully as she could sound when she was half asleep. 

Soon, everyone left, and the three "comebacks" stayed in the main room, staring at each other. 

"Seems we are home", Cage said, a bit awkwardly, but trying to start a topic. 

"I never thought I would be back again", Ares said, sighing. 

"Brother, are you alright?", Myona asked him, sweetly. 

"Yes, I am. You don't have to worry that much about me", he said, passing his left arm over her, almost hugging her. "Has Cage ever made you cry?", he asked then, abruptly. 

"What?!?", Myona asked surprised by that change of attitude. "No, he didn't! We would he make me cry? We've had some great times together..." 

"Is that so?", Ares asked his friend, suspiciously. 

"Ares... I didn't! I swear that I didn't!", Cage stuttered, nervously. He had already started to sweat. 

"Alright", Ares replied, seriously. "Hey, c'mon, it was a joke!", he suddenly said, laughing. "I said that I would come back and get you if you ever Myona cry, and now that I'm here, alive by miracle, with both of you... guess it was the best time for that joke", he explained, still laughing. 

"Ares...", Myona just said, relieved. 

"You'll never change, uh? You almost killed me!", Cage said, trying to come back to his senses, and drying up his sweat. 

"See? I'm still the same" 

"I'm glad for that...", Myona replied, almost whispering. 

"Myona", Ares said, looking at his sister, "You were afraid I still wanted to perform my revenge when I said that I didn't want to leave my new found life, weren't you?" 

Myona lowered her head shyly. 

"I... yes", she just said, as a sigh. 

"I knew it", he said, but without any hint of hate or remorse. "I just want to tell you that the me is no longer in this world. I had learnt my lesson well, and there's no need to keep thinking in that. Now I'm trying to enjoy my life, without thinking in my past. Now I have future ahead". 

"Bro, I'm sorry to have thought that...", she apologized, softly, and somewhat ashamed of having doubted of her brother like that. 

"You are in your right to doubt. We are human after all and can commit the same mistake over and over again". 

The three of them stayed silent for another while, thoughtfully. 

"Well, we aren't the only ones who seemed unchanged", Myona said, breaking the silence. "Everybody looks the same as when we left, but they had changed, at heart" 

"Maybe. We couldn't talk that much, so we aren't certain yet", Cage replied, smiling. 

"But I'm sure of it. I wonder if Mr. Warren and Mebius had something... Semyl's still a bit disappointed with Razma, but I think they will be together some day...", Myona said, as if she were telling a tale. 

"I wonder what happened when we were gone" 

"Semyl told me that now Robin and Twede are the blank of jokes. I would like to see that", Myona said, but then she turned to her brother, and more serious, she asked him, 

"Bro, are you alright?" 

Ares had been staring at them, silent and taciturnly, while they were guessing about their friends' fates. At Myona's question, he just nodded and said, 

"Yes, I'm alright. I was just thinking in all the others, in all the things that I lost for having been too much in my own pain and planning my revenge towards Zephyrs". 

"I just focused in my own selfishness and didn't pay too much attention to my surroundings, and I lost far too much... You were quite lucky to have had amnesia in those days, Myona", he added, somewhat saddened, but trying not to show it. 

"Ares... please forget all that, it has already happened", Myona said, trying to comfort him, her older brother, always so independent in what looking after oneself referred to. 

"Yes, Ares. Look forward, we can still spend some good times together, and with the others. Don't worry about the past anymore, you have to focus now in your future!", Cage exclaimed, excited, trying to cheer up his friend. 

"You still remain as pure and simple as before, Cage, you hadn't changed", Ares said. "And now you quite optimistic!", he added, laughing. 

"I told you I would change", the blue haired youth replied, also laughing. "I think it's time for us to go, too", he added later, checking at his watch. "We've had a tough day" 

"Everyone has", Ares added, smiling. 

"Yeah, see you later, bro", Myona said, kissing him on his cheek and standing up from the sofa. 

She had just walked some steps when Ares called her again. 

"Yes?", she replied, quite sleepy. 

"Do you know wear trousers?", her brother asked, curiously. 

It was then when she realized what she was wearing. She looked at her long, grey trousers, and then she looked at Ares. Blushing a bit, she replied,  
"Ahh! Er... yes, especially for long travels, they are more comfortable than long skirts, although it may seem the contrary..." 

"Hey, it's not wrong, not at all. You don't have to blush, sis", he replied, apologizing for his question and trying to calm her down. "I just asked. You look quite the same, if not for the trousers, but they suit you." 

And he was right. She was wearing a pinkish pullover, and also her small plaits at both sides of her face, but now she was wearing trousers, and they seemed to make her more mature. 

"I'm glad you like them. Now, I'm going to bed if you don't want to carry me later", she said, giggling, waving with her hand at them. 

"I'm also going, pal. See you later in the morning", Cage said, after a small yawn. 

"Cage, do you still have that button?", Ares asked him, suddenly. 

Cage looked at him for a moment, then he replied, "Why do you always have to doubt? I always have it with me", he said, looking for it in one of his pockets. "See? It's right here", he said, once he picked it, and handing it over to him. 

The small yellow button shone brightly with the artificial light of the main room. The sad, yet sweet and hopeful melody was playing, as it had many times before. Ares just stared at it for a short while, then he handed it over to Cage, saying, 

"This is so strange... everybody seems so helpful, after all what I've done. But I won't look back again, not now. Thanks for everything, Cage". 

He sure was quite touched, but he remained taciturn, as he always did before. 

"You don't have to thank anything. What are friends for, if not for helping and supporting each other?", Cage replied, smiling. "Good night, pal", he said, before disappearing through the corridor. 

* * *

"Everyone awake?", Semyl asked, from the small room that was used as kitchen. It was her turn to prepare breakfast, and so she needed everyone awake. She hated so much to cook for more people than the ones who were interested in having breakfast. 

"Yes, remember that we are 11 today", Mebius replied, turning her eyes out of Lia for a small, brief moment. Lia was now in Myona's arms, but she still wanted to check that her little Lia wouldn't suffer or react badly with a "stranger". 

"Had you had a good night's rest?", Robin exclaimed the "newcomers", cheerfully. 

"Yes, it's great to be back at home", Myona replied, trying to evade little Lia's arms, as they were both playing. 

"It was ok, thank you", Ares replied, normally. 

"Hey, Idiot! Come and help me to put all this on the table!", Semyl yelled at Razma, still angry for his behavior of the day before. She already forgave him the incident in which he got Lia, but she still like to use it as an excuse to annoy him, but she still was quite annoyed by his attitude towards Hazel, especially when he wanted to do some CPR. 

"Eh? Why me?!?", he yelled back, annoyed. 

"Because I want you to do this!", she just replied, glaring at him. 

"Alright, I'm going, I'm going", he just replied, already knowing the meaning of that sight. 

"Has anything happened between them?", Myona asked quickly to Robin, who was sitting in front of her. 

"Well... I think there was some closeness, but nothing came of it", the whitish haired woman replied. "But I still hope and think something will happen in the future". 

"Here comes breakfast, so clean the table", Semyl said, cheerfully, coming with some dishes, and helped by Razma. 

"Great, I'm starving!", Yukito said, staring at the food. 

Everyone helped themselves, and soon everyone's either eating or drinking some coffee, tea or any drink. 

"Mmh... Myona, Cage, Ares", Robin said, after drinking some coffee. "Do you have any plans for later?" 

"I'm free", Ares replied. 

"We haven't decided anything, also", Myona said, cutting a piece of a chocolate pie. 

"Maybe we can go to our Lab, if so", she said, looking at Mebius and Warren. "There's something we want to show you". 

"Alright! Let's go to the Lab, then", Cage replied, somehow excited and curious. 

"What? Do you have any idea of what we could find?", Myona asked him, quite funnily, thinking in the day before, when he said he had a premonition and then Ares appeared. 

"Not at all, but it can be enjoyable", he replied, after eating a biscuit. 

"Ok, hey, guys", she said, now to Yukito, Razma and Semyl, "Could you stay here while we are out? Twede also has to come", she explained. 

"Alright, there's no problem", Yukito replied. Somehow, Semyl didn't object. 

"Well, so let's meet in the deck after breakfast, yes?", Robin stated, satisfied. 

* * *

"Well, we are here", Cage said, after getting out of the LEV that brought them to the NUT Lab. "What was that thing that you wanted to show us?", he asked, quite anxious. 

"Be patient, we are already there", Robin said, smiling. 

"Oh, come on! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us!", he exclaimed, cheerfully and eager to know what was behind that door that Twede was opening as he spoke with Robin. 

"Robin, everything's set. Shall we proceed?", Twede asked, with his impersonal voice. 

"Oh, yes, let's go in", Robin approved. 

"Man, it was time!", Cage said, now more relaxed. 

The group passed through the door and walked into the room. It was quite dark, but they could tell it was the "storage room" for OFs of the Laboratory. Robin guided everyone to a sector and told Twede to switch on the lights. The lights blinked, and soon the room was lighted, revealing the objects that were stored on it. 

"Oh, my...", Myona whispered, looking at the huge object standing in front of her. 

"This... this...", Cage also whispered, shocked, his eyes wide opened. 

"It's impressive", Ares said, smiling at the object. 

In front of them, a new Orbital Frame was standing. The three of them were very surprised, especially Cage, who seemed to be living a dream. He couldn't believe his eyes at all. Time seemed to have stopped in that room, where that OF was standing. It was the same design, the same expression in its face, it felt the same object. It was the spitting image of Testament. Only that it had some small differences. It had a bluish glow, product of its new blue color, and now it had two hands. Then, it seemed the same Testament Cage run a year and a half ago. 

"And? What do you think of it?", Robin asked, cheerfully, proud of BIS latest Orbital Frame. 

"It... Is it Testament? The original?", Cage asked, trying to get out of his surprise shock, blinking twice. 

"No, we couldn't find anything of the original Testament. We made this based in our records of the original one, and we enhanced it with new NUT technology and some help of the Vjaya system", she explained carefully. It was then that the three youths realized that the small, agile OF was standing next to the copy of Testament. 

"We called it "Will" until now, but you can change the name if you please. After all, it's your OF, Cage", Warren added, looking at the surprised Cage. 

"It really suits it", Myona said, coming from her surprise. "She said she would come and get you from me before leaving", she said, thinking in the moment Pharsti, her other self, a part of herself, said that. She had released Cage from the cockpit and was telling them to escape, she would take care of everything, along with Ares and the Iblis. "Seems she was right, after all", she said, returning from her memories, with some sorrow and a small hint of annoyance. 

"What? Are you jealous?", Cage asked her, funnily. "You are the only one for me, Myona. You have nothing to fear", he told her, hugging her. 

"It's just that... this is quite strange!", she complained, in his arms. "I don't want to loose you", she added, saddened. 

"Hey, and what about me?", Ares asked, with the only objective of cheering his sister up. 

"Seems that the brother's jealous", Cage said, still funnily and releasing Myona from his hug. Then he turned to Robin and the others, who have been watching their reactions silently, and said, quite solemnly, "That name really suits it, as it also shows my attitude towards life now, but I can't accept it" 

Everyone, except Myona and Ares, remained silent and shocked. 

"Why?", Mebius asked him, trying to get from that surprise. 

"I really appreciate your effort, but it's too strange for me", the blue-haired youth apologized, searching for the correct words to explain his mind. "It's just that I don't know if I can pilot an OF again, after all the things I've lived before..." 

"Cage, we already know this new OF can't replace Testament and Pharsti", Robin said, trying to be both supportive and persuasive, "but we thought it could be the best OF for you. It's just for you" 

"Just try it, Cage, maybe you like it", Mebius added. 

"You still have to learn not to get so attached to material things", Warren said, trying to help. 

"You can say that because you simply destroyed the first Durandal", Robin said, giggling. For her surprise, Warren didn't reply, but he just smiled lightly. 

Cage stood there, silently and thoughtfully for a short while, then he raised his head and replied, 

"Alright, I'll give it a shot". 

Now everyone seemed relieved. 

"I would recommend you to go and sit at the cockpit, but it would more prudent to wait for a battle to try its weapons", Robin said, seriously. 

"It's just to avoid catching the UNSF attention", Mebius added, smiling. 

"Alright", Cage said, before getting into the cockpit. 

The cockpit also resembled the original Testament's one. Some lights blinked as he got into it, and the computer screens started showing his data, as it had accepted him as the frame runner. 

"Well, Pharsti, I'm home!", he exclaimed, quite touched. 

But no one replied. The lights blinked again, and the screens just showed him instructions about piloting OFs and the usage of weapons. 

"It'll be hard to get used to this", he thought, saddened, and sighed. 

"And Cage? What do you think about it?", Robin's voice brought him back to reality. 

"Ah... strange, but it's a wonderful work", he replied, getting off the OF. 

"We still don't know how to create a talking AI, sorry", she added as soon as he was in the ground again. 

"Don't worry", he said, trying to show an optimistic side. "It's a great work, anyway" 

"Just wait to run it, it's better than what it looks", Twede said, coming from another room. 

"But are you sure I can handle it?", Cage asked, quite worried. 

"What? You still have doubts?", Mebius asked, annoyed by that lack of confidence. 

"Cage, you don't mean that...", Myona started saying, surprised by that reaction, but was soon interrupted by Cage. 

"It's just that I recalled that time when Mr. Twede said my skill was quite poor, before I went to the spaceport" 

"You still remember that?", Twede asked, a bit ashamed, "I said that because it was better for you to run away at that time, but I exaggerated what I used to think" 

"Ah, I see...", Cage replied, still doubting. 

"Well, I think it's time to go", Robin suggested. "What do you think about our surprise? Nice, wasn't it?" 

"More than impressive", Ares replied, still 'admiring' the new OF, and looking at the one who used to run, the Vyaja. 

"We have no runner for that one", Warren said, guessing Ares' thoughts and pointing at the purplish OF. "I think there would be no problem if you want to run that" 

"What?", the light haired youth asked, coming to reality once more. "You can't be serious..." 

"Why not? That's what you used to run" 

"Warren's right!", Mebius approved quickly and energetically. "That one is just parked there, waiting for a runner. Come on, Ares, it's all yours!" 

Ares felt strange, almost overjoyed, but he managed to not show that, but his always calm face.  
"I... thank you. I can't still understand how you still want to help me after all those things I did..." 

"Stop talking about the past. You have to think about your future", Mebius said, kindly. 

"Alright", Ares agreed, nodding. 

"Well, let's return to the Saoshyant", Warren said, walking to the door, and followed by the others. 

"'It also shows my attitude towards life'... mmhh... Nice answer, Cage, but which is your attitude now?", Ares asked Cage seriously, while walking to the door. 

"Well, I want to live my own life, to decide my own fate, to be more independent... guess that's what I want", Cage said, after thinking the answer for a brief moment. 

"Great answer", Ares replied, satisfied and happy for his friend's answer, which showed how much he had changed. 

"Thanks. Let's go with the others", he suggested, walking to the door, where Myona was waiting for them. 

"Yes, let's go", he said, meeting with the others. 

Cage decided to stay behind Ares, and stared at the new, impotent OF, Will, Testament's sort of "new twin", before leaving the room.

* * *

"Home at last!", Roin exclaimed, cheerfully, while going into the Saoshyant's main room. 

"Ah, hi!", Razma greeted them, shouting from another room. 

"Has anybody called?", she asked him, leaving her things in a chair. 

"What? Are you waiting for some guy's call?", he asked, sort of maliciously (but faked), while coming in the main room. 

"That's not your business", she said, coldly, but laughed then. "No, I just wanted to know if you had any news about Hazel...", she said, worried. 

"You are worried for her?", Cage asked. 

"Well, yes", she replied, surprised with herself. "I barely know the lass, but I feel like I like her... It's strange" 

"She sure found the best way to escape, after all", Twede said, bitterly. After all, it was him who drove her to the city. 

"Where do I put this?", a voice asked someone in one of the other rooms. 

"This?", Semyl's voice asked back, as if she were examining the item in question. "Oh, that goes in the main room", she replied, cheerfully. 

"Alright, I'm going", the young voice replied. 

"Who's that one?", Warren asked, confused. 

"Ah, hi!", Hazel greeted, coming from the corridor and carrying a folder. "What? You thought I wasn't coming back?", she asked, looking at the others' puzzled faces. 

"Er... yes", Robin replied, still puzzled. 

"I just wanted to pick up some things from home. Maybe they can be useful for you", she said, still shyly and as if she were at the defensive. "I don't have any idea of who could have attacked the Labs or that civilian area, but I don't want to let this opportunity to help in something to run by. Of course, if you accept my help", she added. 

"Sorry for before", she said, apologizing for her reaction. "I always need some time to adapt to changes, and I couldn't understand why you wanted to hide your "identity" when I asked who were you, but Yukito already explained me that. I'm sorry if I have worried anyone, thing that I doubt I had", she said the last part as if she were annoyed with herself. 

"You worried me, and you shouldn't underestimate yourself", Robin said, as an advice. "However, I think there will be no problem with you helping us, Hazel" 

The girl's eyes widened by the surprise of someone remembering her name. 

Robin looked at the others, and without finding any sign of contradiction, she added, smiling, "Well, Hazel, welcome to BIS" 

"Thanks", the girl said, smiling lightly. 

***

(Sorry for that "half-description" of Will. Weapons description is coming soon -although you already have an idea. See you, and thanks for the reviews, help and suggestions!)


	5. Brownish Fire

Chapter 5: "Brownish Fire" 

It's been a week since Hazel decided to stay with the BIS group, and nothing has happened since. There were no attacks or any hints of an incoming one, so the group was quite lost in their guesses. They had no information about the attacks, and the few data they could get from Hazel's Labs was just a bunch of administrative papers and memos without any relevant information. Unfortunately, Hazel was quite new at the Labs, so she didn't know much, and when she tried to search for more data at the Labs, she found them closed with chains and padlocks, as if they had been brought to a close. On the other hand, she couldn't find anyone of her former work mates, they were either out of town or they evaded her. She never had a good relationship with them, partly because she was new in that place and partly due to her quiet, reserved character, or because of her story... 

Fortunately and thankfully for her, she was feeling well with the BIS staff, although she wasn't an active member. She was just there to help them prevent the attacks that started the same day her working place was attacked, and considering that there weren't any attacks ahead, she was thinking in leaving the group and returning to her normal life, and that meant she had to look for a new job… Tough duty for somebody without many contacts in the red planet… 

"Hazel, are you sure you want to leave?", Robin asked the light-blue haired girl, worried. 

Hazel looked at her things again with some melancholy. She didn't really want to leave, but she had no other choice. She couldn't go on hanging around them, being just a normal civilian without any relevant ability. She was skilled with computers, but she was like a six-year-old child compared to Ares, so she didn't have any other thing to offer. Her contacts had all vanished, and she wasn't that much of a spy… 

"Robin, you don't have to worry about me", she said, finally, facing her. She tried to look calm and normal, when she was actually feeling sad. "You know I can't be of any use here, so it's better for me and even for you that I leave". 

"I don't see why it's better for us to not have you around", Mebius complained. "You can always come in handy, you know…" 

Hazel smiled lightly, but that wasn't enough to convince her. 

"I told you that I would just stay with you to prevent those attacks, and there's no sign of them, so my mission's finished here… Not that I want any attacks, trust me" 

"You say that because you are used to hear about attacks everyday, aren't you?", Yukito asked, trying to help. "You have to know that those guys don't attack every day, they do it randomly". 

Hazel stood there, thoughtfully. A good number of the BIS members was gathered in the main room, checking different things. It was a normal, quiet day. 

"Yes, stay with us a bit more", Semyl said, cheerfully as she always was. "I still haven't introduced you to the orphanage kids, you can't leave without knowing them!", she exclaimed. "And most importantly, what are you going to do? Where are you going after this?", she asked, as the main part of her strategy. 

Hazel's eyes widened due to the sudden question, and she stood still. Then she realized that she hadn't said much about herself in the short time she was with them, and nobody seemed offended by that. 

"I… I still hadn't thought in that", she said, at last. "I mean, I was hoping to find a job somewhere, or maybe I could try to return to Earth… I haven't thought in that yet" 

"Ah, that's interesting!", Razma exclaimed, "Where are you from, Hazel? We hadn't talked about that before…", he said, suddenly interested in the background of the newbie. "Well, if you wish to talk…", he added next, sort of forced. 

If Hazel had turned back, she would have seen Semyl and Robin making signs to him to shut his mouth… 

"Ah… Well, I would have to say that I don't know", she said, carefully. "Well, it's not like that", she corrected herself quickly, noticing some odd faces. "I was born in Earth, but I've been travelling since I was very little, so I don't have a sense of belonging anywhere…", she explained, lost in her thoughts, as if it were something painful to talk about her past. 

"So, you sure have to stay. You are a real Born In Space!", Semyl exclaimed, trying to cheer the atmosphere up. 

Hazel laughed all of a sudden, catching many of the BIS members by surprise. 

"Well, I hadn't thought it in that way", she said, still smiling, with that nice, frank smile she had almost for herself, as she wasn't of the likes that are all day smiling. 

"And? This means a 'yes', doesn't it?", Mebius asked, motherly. Raising Lia turned her into a even more comprehensive, nice person. 

Hazel thought for a little while, still smiling. 

"Guess you win… for now", she said, leaving in clear the fact that she wasn't going to stay much. 

"We can discuss that later, young woman", Robin said, faking a serious voice. 

"Once you are here, you learn to love this place", Semyl said. "Isn't it like that, guys?", she asked, now turning to Myona. Cage and Ares were in the hangar while the others were persuading Hazel to stay, examining the OFs with Warren. 

"Yes, it's absolutely as she says", Myona approved, smiling. "You don't have to feel like a burden, we can always be useful here", she added, trying to make Hazel feel good. 

"That may be, but I don't see how useful I could become here", she replied, looking briefly at her surroundings. "I have some knowledge of computers, but it's not something that could help you, and I'm not an OF runner, and I'm not a skilled LEV pilot, also. I'm the worst spy you could find in the entire universe, so what's left for me?", she asked, seriously. 

"You sure have a problem of self-esteem, don't you?", Semyl asked her, a bit annoyed with Hazel's words. "Come on, you don't have to think you aren't worthy. You'll find a good role here, I tell you" 

"Hope you are right someday…", Hazel said, lost in her own thoughts, sighing. 

*** 

Cage, Ares and Warren were in the hangar, checking the OFs and LEVs. Everything seemed normal. 

"Well… seems we have finished", Warren stated, getting of the Durandal II, his own OF. 

"Yes, everything's normal", Ares stated, staring at the Vjaya. 

The three of them had left the main room to do the normal maintenance of the OFs and LEVs. Without any battles or even practices in the last days, the activity didn't last long. 

"It feels so strange to be here, watching at the OFs quiet", Cage said, staring at the OFs, and especially at Will. "Who would have said that I would want to pilot an OF again, after all that", he said, thoughtfully. 

"I would say that has to do with your maturity", Warren stated, sitting down in a small chair they had there. "You know face your duties, obligations and outcome of your actions, and that means you have grew up. Maybe that's why you now have another opinion about OFs" 

"He's right", Ares said, raising his head from the notebook computer, where he was stating the outcome of their activity. "You sure have changed in from that last time", he added, now facing the screen again. 

"I promised you I would change…", Cage replied, thoughtfully. "Hey, what do you think of Hazel?", he said, all of a sudden. 

"And what's with that change of topic?", Warren asked, normally. 

"Well, I think it's a better topic than to analyze my behavior", he replied. 

"She seems a good girl", Warren said, after thinking a while his answer. "I don't see anything wrong with her, although she seems to have a poor opinion of herself" 

"Well, yes, she needs some help with that", Cage replied, agreeing with Warren. "What about you, Ares?" 

The light haired youth took his time to answer. 

"She has a nice smile", he said, finally. 

"Woah! What does that mean?", Cage asked surprised, not expecting that answer from him. 

"That: that she has a nice smile", he replied, still staring at the computer's screen. "It's better than my sis' smile", he added, without paying much attention to the topic. "Goodness, I should have worn my glasses!", he cursed, taking out a pair of glasses, with a transparent border. 

"Sort of a declaration, isn't it Warren?", Cage joked, quite funny. Ares wasn't of the likes to discuss about girls too much, so that's why he was the blank of jokes… 

"And what's with that?", he asked, playing annoyed. "I just said I liked her 'hidden' smile, that's all… You aren't supposing…", he said, leaving the sentence unfinished. 

"Hey, she's similar to you!", the blue-haired youth stated, funnily. "Both of you are taciturn, shy…" 

"Hey, I'm not shy", Ares protested, coldly. "Just taciturn", he added, still coldly. "I've finished with this, we can leave", he said, closing his notebook, a 'welcome back' gift from Robin. 

*** 

"Good morning, pupils. Today we will discuss about the attacks that took place last week in some areas of our County", the middle-aged teacher said, after coming into the classroom, where a bunch of students were either half-asleep or deeply bored. 

"You've seen the media coverage, I assume", the woman said, starting her monologue. "You could see how many of our people had suffered those attacks, how their things were destroyed… And you had seen that the Earth Forces hadn't been the ones that attacked. This means that our planet is filled with many rebellious people that is after power, and we can't allow them to accomplish their evil goals. They will only satisfy their own greed, without paying attention to our needs, and in case they go to War with Earth –a stupid action, of course!- they won't go, but they'll send you! You, innocent people! So, I think that we have, no, we must obey Earth. They have done bad things before, but we are humans after all, we commit errors, but now Earth's the one right. We descend from them, so we owe them everything! We can't let this Martian organizations do what they want with us…like that BAHRAM did! They just use us to go on with their schemes…" 

A brown-haired student yawned, tired of that "pro-Earth" class her teacher was giving. 

"It's always the same. Once she comes in, she pushes 'play' and goes on until the tape is over", she thought, ironically, while playing with her hair while the teacher went on with her rant. "I know my parents, especially Mom, want the best for me, but being in a school like this, where some teachers just spend their time 'washing and drying up' our brains isn't the way…", she thought bitterly, staring at her private school uniform. Blue blazer and skirt, red socks and tie, white shirt, matching with her white hairband… she was grateful to her parents for her really good education, but just there. Her school was quite strict in its points of view, and once they said a thing, there was no other way round; well, as if in other schools the thing was so different... Plus, she couldn't say anything against her teacher opinion, or she would be sent to the school's psychologist and would be ticked of "anarchist"… So, the thing left was to stay there, thinking in anything else but Mars and Earth current situation, that was a minor thing for her. 

Cautiously, she picked a piece of paper, trying to make the less noise she could while tearing the paper. She wrote something and passed it to one of her companions, a girl sitting at her left. 

"Aren't you terrible bored? This class is never-ending!". That was what the other student found in the paper. The girl wrote something and gave it back to the girl with the white hairband. 

"It's not that terrible. At least, she's talking about things that are happening, and not things that happened a long time ago, like those wars about mineral resources she spoke some classes ago", the brown-haired read for herself. "Goodness, she's already lost!", she thought, resigned. "Which wars?", she wrote back, just to keep herself entertained. She already knew what that topic was about, but she was so bored that she wanted to do anything else. Cautiously, she passed it to her companion, but this time, she was caught by the teacher. 

"Seems that you are very interested in the topic, Miss Stack", the teacher said, annoyed and forcing her irony. "Why don't you tell us what do you think?" 

The addressed student didn't reply. She just stayed there, silent. She was neither ashamed nor feeling guilty, she just wasn't in the mood to talk. 

"I think you should reconsider going to a psychologist, Cynthia", the woman said, without paying much attention. "And well, what can you tell us? We are eager to listen your bell", the teacher went on, still annoyed with her. 

It was then when the fire alarm started to ring. Everyone got up from their seats, and went running to the door, leaving the teacher behind, while she tried to make them return to their seats, so she could guide them to the exit, according to the practices. 

"Saved by the bell", Cynthia thought, trying to pass through a 'human sea', crushed in the school's stairs, waiting for her opportunity to get out of that place. 

*** 

"Robin, I have found a strange signal in the radar!", Twede said, calling his companion quickly. 

"What? Where?", the BIS member asked, almost jumping into the radar. 

"It's in the Altea residential area, a quite expensive and important neighborhood. There are just houses and offices, I have no records of any laboratory or something similar", Twede reported. 

"The Altea district…?", Hazel asked, worried. "My cousin goes to school there! Please, let me go!!", she begged, realizing that her younger cousin could be in danger.  
"She goes to a school in that area?", Yukito asked incredibly. "She sure has money…" 

"Those are her parents", Hazel said, calmer. "Especially her mother: she wants all the best and top things she can get for her family, especially for her only daughter" 

"Ah, I see", the greenish-haired man replied, thinking in his own family. Her cousin's case wasn't that different to his, only that he had more brothers. 

"Hazel, are you sure you want to go?", Robin asked, worried. She knew that the newcomer was eager to help, but to pilot a LEV… that was strange. 

"Yes, please let me go!", she asked, nervously. "I drove some LEVs in the laboratory, so I don't think they are that different from those" 

"You drove LEVs? Now this is interesting", Twede said, suspiciously. For some unknown reason, he had a lot of doubts concerning the gray eyed girl. 

"Well, just transport LEVs, carrying stuff within the lab", Hazel explained. She also knew that the black clad man wasn't friendly towards her. 

"Please… I beg you", she asked, again, saddened. Her pitiful voice would have made a statue to grant her what she wanted. 

"Well…", Robin said, thoughtfully. 

The door that led to the hangar opened, and Warren, Cage and Ares came from it.  
"What's the matter?", Warren asked, as soon as he got in. "We've heard the alarm in the hangar." 

"There's a signal coming from the Altea district", Robin said. "An attack" 

"Seems you'll be able to test Will, Cage", he said calmly to the blue-haired youth. 

"Yeah, so it seems", was Cage's short answer. 

"I'm going too", Ares said, decided. 

"Alright, we have two OFs. Warren, Mebius, you go, too. And guys", she said, facing Semyl, Yukito and Razma, "you know you are always in" 

"Alright", the fire haired boy replied, walking to the hangar. 

"Now", Robin said, looking at Hazel, "Who'll go on the Calibur?" 

"I've told you", Hazel replied, coldly. "I'm going" 

"Robin, I can go with her, if that makes you feel better", Myona offered, shyly. 

Robin thought for a while, then she replied, still thoughtfully, "Alright, you two go on the Calibur" 

"Thanks", Hazel thanked, gratefully. "I won't ruin it". 

"Alright, everyone to their respective OFs and LEVs", the BIS leader shouted, encouraging. 

"Hey, Ares", Semyl called him, before everyone went running to the hangar. "Since when do you wear glasses?" 

The light haired youth seemed a little confused, then he understood, and while taking them off, he replied, "A year or so ago. Why do you ask?" 

"You look nice with them", she replied, giggling. 

"Hey, you!", Razma interrupted, annoyed. "It's not time for you to flirt, you know…", he said, grabbing her from her elbow and making her walk. 

"What? Are you jealous?", she asked, sharply. 

"Oh, my!", he replied, even more annoyed. "Come on and walk by yourself!", he said, letting her go. 

*** 

"Everyone already there?", Robin's voice asked through the speakers, when they reached the area. 

"Yeah, copied", Warren replied. "We don't see many people around, but there's some fuss ahead" 

"That must be the school", Hazel said. "It's three blocks ahead. Maybe they opened the doors and the students are getting out as fast as they can" 

"Alright, go ahead, and be careful with the civilians", Robin's voice sounded again. "Seems that the enemy has a soft-spot for civilian and inhabited areas" 

"Let's tell them we are here!", Semyl suggested, starting her LEV engine. 

"Hazel, Myona", Robin called her. "You too stay behind, until someone needs help or calls you. If you plan any other action, ask first", BIS leader said. 

"Understood", Myona said, from her walkie-talkie like device. 

The Calibur stayed back, while the others went ahead. It wasn't long before they found some enemy LEVs, but this time there were also a few unmanned units, like Mummyheads and Raptors. Apparently, the that unknown group was acquiring much power as time went by, and their absence wasn't meaningless. 

Hopefully, there weren't many civilians on the streets; they had either closed themselves in their majestic houses or buildings, or they had already run away from there. And the few ones out in the street were in their way to look for some shelter. 

The group split. Cage, Ares and Yukito went to the right, while the others went to their left. At both sides there were unmanned enemies, and some attack LEVs could be seen further ahead. 

"Cage", Robin's voice resounded in Will's cockpit. "Can you copy me?" 

"Yes, Robin", the young boy replied, quickly. "What is it?" 

"I just want to give you some data about Will's weapons and attacks", she replied, calmly. "Basically, it works like Testament. Don't worry about the lack of weapons in its hands, Metatron itself will turn into the desired weapon. Plus, we've added a nifty feature: we've placed a beam manipulator on its wrists, so you can suck some beam energy from your enemies, and use it for a new attack: the beam arrow", Robin explained, as happy as a kid with a new toy. "When you reach a certain level of beam energy 'robbed' from your opponents, you have the option of firing it with your beam bow, and the result will be a beam arrow, and we named the new weapon and attack after that" 

"Wow, that's impressive", Ares said, interested. "I want one like that", he joked. 

"You'll have to wait", Robin replied, smiling. "Soon, Durandal II and Orchrist will have one like that. Your Vjaya will have to wait for a while. I can't use NUT's funds that much as I would like. It would be too suspicious", she added. 

"It's alright", Ares said, naturally. 

"Hey, Robin", Yukito said, acting offended. "You have to think in us, also!" 

"What? Are you jealous?", Robin joked, giggling. "Come on, guys. Concentrate in the present, or there won't be any upgrades for any OF or LEV", she said, before hanging in. 

Anyway, they took a short while to end with the unmanned units. However, they could see, and was later verified by Robin and Twede back at the Saoshyant, that enemy reinforcements were coming; this time were all man commanded units. 

"Alright", Warren said, from his OF. "Let's go all together and then we split there", he suggested, as his only plan. 

"Any better idea?", Yukito asked, satisfied with his friend's idea. 

No one replied, so they all went together to where the other LEVs were. They hadn't to walk much, because the others went to their meeting, firing and attacking with their Laser blades or their Machine Guns. 

"Cage, are you alright?", Myona's soft voice came from the speakers. 

"Yes, we are alright", Cage replied, glad to hear his girl's voice. 

"Do you need our help?", she asked. 

"No, not yet. Don't worry about us", he said, trying to sound clam and convincing. 

"Hazel wants to know if the school in 43 Street is under attack", Myona asked, after a small pause, in which she listened to her LEV companion. 

"I don't know", he said, after a moment. "We are in 41, so I can't tell", he said, doubting. "There are some LEVs coming from that direction, though", he added. "Look, this is getting tougher, and I have to try this new 'toy'", he said, quickly. 

"Alright, see you", she said. 

"Robin!", Hazel said, picking the device Myona had in her hand while talking to Cage. "Please, let me go and see everything's ok!", she asked, nervously. Th only idea that her cousin could be under attack was quite terrifying for her. 

"Hazel, you can't be under your emotions effect!", the lady replied back, nervously. "Wait there until the others call you" 

"Yes, hazel, Robin's right", Myona said, trying to persuade the light blue haired girl of her intention. 

"Next time I'll do it better, Robin", Hazel said, apparently calm. "This time, forgive me!", she said, starting the Calibur engine and driving it towards 43 Street. 

"Hazel!! Hazel, stop it, I tell you!", Robin exclaimed angrily through the speakers, but the new member wasn't paying neither attention to her, nor to Myona, who was also telling her to stop the LEV. 

She drove fast, and a bit carelessly. Thankfully, there weren't civilians in that area. 

"Hazel! Please stop this!", Myona begged, impatiently. "I'm feeling sick!" 

"Sorry Myona", she apologized, turning right, and driving now along the infamous 43 Street. "I'm not a good driver, sorry I hadn't warned you before!" 

"You should have done it", the purple haired girl complained, dizzily. "Where did you say you drove some LEVs?" 

"At the Lab, for short distances and slowly", she replied, her eyes fixed in the street. The school was right ahead, and there were many students outside. 

"That's the place?" 

"Yep", Hazel replied, harshly. "Now I have to find my cousin" 

"Hazel, we are no rescue team", Myona tried to explain, calmly. "If you save one, you have to save all of them" 

"Not in this area, I tell you", the newbie said, sarcastically. "They would prefer to blow up instead of helping your cause. They have gone too soft in these surroundings, and to pro-Earth" 

*** 

The school block was a mess, covered by runaway students, running with fear, some, or others staying there, without caring what was going around. And now, that big vehicle happened to show up just there… 

"Finally, I could escape from that damned place", the brown-haired student already mentioned thought, walking next to some standing students, and pushing others that were just resting in front of the school's gates, trapping the entrance and exit to it. 

It was then when everyone noticed the large, tank like LEV coming in their direction. Everybody run either back to the school, or in any other direction. Anyway, she stood there, like shocked, unable to move. That thing was coming nearer, and she couldn't move. Sweat was running towards her body, and her heartbeat was very, very fast. 

"I won't die here, I won't die yet", she thought, tightening her fists. "Whoever they are, I'll escape from them", she thought, yet she couldn't move. 

The strange and menacing LEV stopped, and its door opened, revealing a very familiar figure, much to her surprise. 

"Ha… Hazel?!?", she asked, astonished, her greenish eyes wide open. She couldn't blink, either. 

"Come on, Cynthia, get in here!", the light haired girl yelled, quickly. "I can stay forever here…" 

"But… what are you doing here?!?", Cynthia, the schoolgirl, asked, still surprised, and still petrified. 

"Hey, will you enter, or not?", her cousin yelled, angrily. "I'll explain you later, just get in here!" 

"O…ok!", the schoolgirl replied, after looking at both sides, just to see her mates puzzled faces, but there was no one around. 

She walked quickly to the LEV, and with Hazel's help, she got in there. Hazel hugged her right after closing the LEVs door, and then she returned to the driver's seat, starting its engine. 

"Cynthia, this is Myona", she introduced her cousin to the light purple haired girl, who was also deeply surprised. 

"Hi", they both said, greeting each other. 

Cynthia dropped her blazer in one of the seats, and took a look around. She couldn't believe where she was, but what she couldn't even understand was her cousin's role in that place. 

"Are you ok?", Hazel asked her cousin, now friendlier, driving the LEV along 43 Street, looking for a safe place to stay until they were called by someone. 

"Yes, I can say so", she said, still looking suspiciously to the LEV's interior. 

"You have nothing to fear", Hazel said, sighing. "I haven't turned into a mercenary or something like that" 

"And what's this, uh?", the brown haired girl asked, rudely. 

"Well…", Hazel said, but was interrupted by Myona. 

"BIS" 

"You've got to be kidding me, right?", Cynthia asked, sarcastically. "You wouldn't get involved in something like this, Hazel", she said, then, seriously. 

"BIS is not the one attacking, but defending", her cousin said, hurt. 

"Our group found her unconscious in some Labs, and they brought her to us. Then she decided to give us a hand", Myona explained, trying to convince Cynthia that they weren't the 'bad guys'. 

"And now you have turned into a Samaritan that you help rebel groups, Haz?", Cynthia asked, still doubting of the truth in that story. 

"They attacked my working place, Cynt", she replied, resigned. 

Cynthia shut up, and stayed puzzled. 

"I… didn't know", Cynthia apologized, saddened. "Sorry" 

"It's nothing", her cousin said, harshly. "Someone locked me, and that's why they found me. But apparently, nobody from there is dead" 

"Now, more importantly", she said, changing the topic. "What happened in your school? The 'Altea District' is no place for Laboratories, and I don't think your school was the main target" 

"I don't know", Cynthia said, now more relaxed and friendlier. "I was almost sleeping in my Contemporary History class when the fire alarm started ringing and everyone got out of the school", she said, summing up her story. 

"It's strange…", Myona said, thoughtfully. "Why would they attack this district?" 

"I have no idea", Cynthia replied. "At least, you saved me from my annoying teacher, who was about to lecture me about my duties as a student", she added, ironically. 

"Hazel, had you disconnected the radio device?!?", Robin's voice asked angrily through the speakers and the video screen. 

The light haired girl blushed, ashamed. "I… it disconnected itself", she mumbled, quickly. 

"Yeah, since I told you to stay where you were, right?", the leader asked, sarcastically. "If you want to stay with us, lending your help, you'll have to adapt yourself to a series of rules, I think" 

"Understood", she said, shyly. 

"Who's that?", Cynthia asked, from her seat. 

"Ah! I forgot", Hazel said, quickly. "Cynthia, this is Robin. Robin, that's my cousin", she introduced them, a bit awkwardly. 

"Hi!", Cynthia greeted, now in her cheerful self, which was her more natural state. 

"Hello there", Robin greeted back. "Hazel, go and help the others. Maybe they need some hands and energy there" 

"Ok", the blue haired girl said, driving fast towards the 41 Street. 

*** 

"We had better luck this time", Razma stated, noticing the few remaining enemy LEVs left. They had to be three or four, by that rate. 

"And, Cage? How do you feel with Will?", Ares asked his friend, firing his OF's Beam Web towards one of the opponents. 

"Fine", the boy replied, anxious to try the new weapon, the Beam Arrow. "Hey, Robin, how much energy I'm supposed to gather before firing the new thingy?", he asked, quickly and somewhat rudely, while evading an enemy LEV attack and sucking some of its energy. 

"Wait until the meter is filled", Robin's reply came through the speaker. 

"But it takes too much time!", he complained, angrily. Finally, the LEV that was attacking him was defeated, with some help from Warren and Yukito. 

"Two less, one to go", Ares stated, after dealing with his enemy LEV. 

"And what about you, Ares?", Cage asked, now heading towards the last one. 

"Strange… really strange", the light haired youth replied, smiling lightly. 

"Hey, step aside. I think I can now fire the new thing!", Cage exclaimed excited to the others. Finally, that never ending meter was filled, and a notice was displayed in the screen, letting know the runner that the new weapon was finally enable for combat. A very tempting notice… 

Cage stopped his frame some meters away from the A class combat LEV, and gave the order to launch the beam bow and its attack. Will's left hand rose, and suddenly, the hand was replaced by a small bow, and a huge beam came from it, and stroke the enemy LEV, making a big amount of damage. 

"Impressive", Cage said, staring at the little greenish sparks that were coming from the enemy LEV. 

"Well, it's not an 'authentic' bow, but it was the best thing we could do", Robin said, giggling, after Will's last performance. "Maybe we can work in that" 

"Anyone needs energy?", Myona asked, as soon as Hazel stopped the Calibur's engine. 

"Myona! Had you seen that?", Cage asked, proudly and happy to see that his girl was there and could have seen the 'show'. 

"Yeah, rather powerful", the purple haired girl replied, smiling. 

"Job already finished", Yukito stated, calling Cage's attention. 

"What?", the blue haired boy asked, surprised. 

"While you kept on talking about your amazing LEV, we went and finished off the remaining one, you daydreamer", Razma said, ironically. "Even with these things we can win", he added, as an indirect reclaim for Robin. 

"Hey, we have already discussed that", Robin moaned, annoyed. 

"Well, so we can leave", Mebius said, looking around and not seeing any other enemy. 

"Not yet", Warren pointed to his left. "Look" 

Everyone looked to that direction, and they could see another enemy LEV, standing alone. It was immobile, and had no intentions to attack, or so it seemed. 

"What would that LEV want?", Yukito asked, tired. 

"Should I get nearer?", Cage asked, ready to go there with his OF. He started walking a few steps, but Semyl warned him, screaming, 

"No, Cage! It's that woman from before! It's her LEV!" 

Cage stopped there, suspiciously. It was then when the LEV made any 'vital signs'. 

"Really impressive, indeed", the female voice from the other encounters greeted him, challenging. "I would really like to know how you manage to do all those things, being some nobodies, BIS" 

"Hey, how do you know who we are?!?", Semyl asked her, angrily. That woman was starting to be really annoying for her, and it was something like a personal issue for her at that rate. 

"Oh, you are not that unknown", the woman replied, faking an ironic tone. "It would be something good if you joined us…" 

"And who are you?", Warren asked, harshly. 

"How could you recreate that already thought gone OF?", she asked Cage, ignoring Warren's question. "Testament…", she added, coldly. 

"And do you think I'll tell you… Ruth, it was?", he asked, suspiciously. 

"How did you got that…?", Ruth asked, sort of scared. "Alright, you can keep that secret… for now. I already got what I was looking today. So long", she said, and drove her LEV quickly, disappearing from their sights. 

"Let's go and get her!", Semyl exclaimed, angrily. "We had her right there…" 

"No, wait!", Cynthia's voice could be first heard for almost everyone for the first time. "Now there are many people in this area, and you could harm someone, and that would bring you great trouble. School's in this area are closing now, and there are plenty here, as well as people", she informed, excited. 

"Cynthia…", Hazel whispered, touched by her cousin's attitude. Now she seemed eager to help. 

"Hey, who was that?", Warren asked, confused. 

"Sorry, she's my cousin Cynthia", Hazel apologized and introduced her to the others. 

"Well, let's retreat, and here we'll chat better", Robin suggested, as her only idea. 

"Alright, let's go" 

*** 

"Good work, guys", Robin congratulated the small squadron, while they were sitting down in the main room, where they were going to discuss about the events that happened shortly before. 

Hazel and Cynthia were the last ones to come in. Hazel sat down near the door, while Cynthia stood near her, shyly and without knowing what to do. It was necessary that Hazel told her to sit down without any trouble to do so. She wasn't enjoying being there, for the only reason that she was feeling like the 'odd one out', and it was getting uncontrollable for her, being looked by others as a complete stranger… which was what she really was for the BIS gang. 

"Calm down, they aren't mean people", Hazel whispered her, guessing somehow her thoughts. 

"Ah… alright", Cynthia nodded, awkwardly. 

"Well, about the battle, we have little to discuss, leaving behind the fact that that lady wanted to know how we made Will, and to join their cause, although she knew it was futile to even try that, so that means that it was either the UNSF or even a lost BAHRAM cell, we shouldn't leave behind any possibility, as stupid as it may sound", Robin stated, checking her computer. "Unless, of course, there's a new armed group, or the Mars Angels have gone evil and hired a fourth sister", she said, giggling at the last idea. 

"In that case, I would like to see the fourth sister", Yukito said, sort of daydreaming. He wasn't in the battlefield when he could have had the first and last occasion to meet them in person, and he still seemed eager to meet those three eccentric gals, although Razma could swore that his friend received each month the Mars Angels Newsletter, thing that was always denied by the green haired young man. 

"As you can see, the Mars Angels have become our blank of jokes when we have to blame somebody", Robin explained to the new ones, smiling. "We all need someone to blame in human race, after all" 

"Quite philosophic", Myona replied, giggling. 

"Anyway, we couldn't find much, and hopefully there weren't civilians hurt", the light haired lady went on, switching off her computer. "And what about your cousin, Hazel?", she asked the blue haired girl, all of a sudden. 

"Well, she's right here, you know", Hazel said, puzzled. "She can explain better than me what happened inside the school", she added, looking at her brown haired cousin, letting her know that it was her time to talk. 

Cynthia seemed confused at first, but then she gathered all her strength and started talking. 

"Well, hi, I'm Cynthia… Cynthia Stack", she introduced herself, shyly. "I'm Hazel's cousin, and I study in that school at the Altea district. Just to let you know, I'm not like all those people there! I don't agree with my teachers points of view!", she exclaimed, now disgusted. 

"But we hadn't said a word!", Semyl exclaimed, surprised. Surely, that girl was at her defensive. 

"Just to let you know", Cynthia stated, sort of ashamed now. "About that incident, I don't know much. I was at class, having to cope with an annoying teacher with her pro-Earth points of view, when the fire alarm started ringing. It took me a while to get out, as some idiots were just blocking some doors, and when I got out, Hazel picked me up", she said, now more comfortable among the BIS staff, although she was still a little harsh. 

"I see…", Robin said, thoughtfully. 

"Pro-Earth propaganda?", Warren asked, interested. "Could you tell us a bit more about that?" 

"Well, it's just that they want us to think that we must respect Earth, and that Earth does the correct thing, while we can't help ourselves and that we are just a bunch of beasts that use violence to achieve our goal. We just have to bow before Earth and do its bidding. If that teacher ever got to know that I met you, she would hang me in the school yard", she explained, annoyed. "Many idiots had already fallen into that line of thinking. The fact that I hadn't doesn't mean that I'm not an idiot, though", she added, seriously, but Hazel knew she was containing her laugh, acting with that "poker face" she always knew when to use. 

"You sure have some self-steam", Yukito noticed, surprised of that kind of statement about herself. 

"I see…", Robin said, thoughtfully. "Do you know why could that group have attacked your area?" 

"I have no idea, really", Cynthia admitted, naturally. "Searching for some guy? Maybe, but not at the school, unless it was an anti-Earth group, that is. In that case, they should have detonated the entire area, if they wanted to get rid of the pro-Earth people", she said, confidently. Her usual self was beginning to show up. 

"You are quite original, you know", Razma stated, looking carefully at her. At the same time, he could feel Semyl's nails deep down his skin, hurting his arm. 

"Thanks. I enjoy using ironical remarks to express my reality", she said, smiling. 

"Well, so we are just as clueless as when we started", Mebius said, sighing. "Seems that we are just fighting a phantom" 

"I could help, maybe!", Cynthia exclaimed, cheerfully. "Many rich people live in my area, and maybe I can gather some interesting info. What do you think?", she asked, excited. Now she seemed a completely different person. She seemed pleased to be with them, and like she even enjoyed the idea of being part of BIS. 

"Cynthia!", Hazel exclaimed, angrily. She already guessed her cousin's intentions, and wasn't going to allow that. 

"You could do that for us?", Robin asked, interested and curious. 

"Why not?", Cynthia asked, smiling. "Helping you is much more useful than sitting in my school desk, listening to a 'living tape record'", she said, parodying the image of her teacher as she said the last line. 

"Cynthia, your mother will kill you if she ever knows of this", Hazel was trying to make her cousin realize of the madness she was trying to get herself into, quite desperately. "Then, she'll come after me, and with plenty reasons to do that! And you still have to study, you know!" 

"And who said I'd stop studying?", the brown haired student asked her, ironically. "It's better to know your opponent from within, isn't it?" 

"You are nuts!", her light haired cousin protested, now angry at her. "This is no children's game. And what are you going to do? You'll make my uncle sit down and ask him about all the possible LEV researchers in your area, uh? He's not going to swallow that tale so easily, Cynt", she warned her cousin. 

Cynthia stayed silent for the first time since her 'outburst'. She hadn't thought in that aspect, but she wasn't going to give up, either. 

"But, Haze!", she cried, annoyed. "Let me help! I could be useful!" 

"I'm not the one to decide here, but you won't join this group. Not even over my corpse", she said, sharply. 

"Hazel… don't get like that. We can chat about this calmer…", Mebius suggested, trying to calm the girl down. "Don't be so intransigent" 

"I can't allow her to be so overexposed", Hazel replied, picking her things. "Cynthia, let's go", she said to her cousin, still seriously. 

"But…", Cynthia complained, but she knew that this matter was already set, for now. She picked her blazer and waved at everybody. 

"Don't worry. She gets angry, but it's just for a while. I'm going to be back soon, if you accept me, that is", she said, before joining her cousin. 

"I don't think so this time", Hazel replied, coldly, while opening the door and showing her the way. 

* 

Finally, I could finish this chap. I hope it doesn't suck that much, especially the battle part. Thanks Wing Zero Alpha for your help in the OF section! I hope to get the next chapter soon… 

See you! 


	6. Reinforcements arrive

Chapter 6: "Reinforcements arrive" 

Four days have passed since the last attack, and BIS had no news of the unknown group, and they were as clueless as before. On the other hand, they knew nothing from Cynthia, and Hazel wasn't being too friendly in that topic: she evaded it. It seemed she was suffering of 'big, protective cousin' complex, for some unknown reason to them. 

Robin was getting anxious with the topic of the unknown enemy group. Twede was searching deeply, but he couldn't find any clue. They sure were as organized as they were, as there were no signals of their whereabouts or their origin… 

"Twede, are you sure you can't find any data from any other place?", Robin asked her secretary anxiously, hurrying him from behind his sofa like chair. 

"Robin, I had already tried with almost everything!", the black clad man complained, annoyed. "There's no trace of them" 

"And what if we put a tracer on that LEV?", Razma's voice asked, as a probable suggestion, and remembering the time he put one in Nadia, and it turned to be useful, and shameful when everybody realized the true motive of his action. 

"Idiot! You would want to put one in that Ruth, isn't it?!?", Semyl asked him, angrily, and guessing his intention, in a way. 

"Hey, wait, you said that, not me!", he exclaimed, covering himself from a probable sudden attack. 

"Try to deny it, then!", she replied back, highly annoyed. 

Myona giggled, cheerfully. It was so good to be at home… 

"Hey, stop it you two!", Robin interrupted the quarrel, highly annoyed. "It's always the same, when are you gonna cut it out?!?" 

The two youths lowered their head, sort of ashamed. Robin at an anger state wasn't something recommendable for anybody. 

"That wouldn't work", Ares said, for the first time. "You would need a rather powerful tracer to track a LEV, and I don't think we have one of that magnitude" 

"Not to mention that they would discover it first and would blow it up at the same instant", Warren added, filling Ares' statement. 

"At this rate, we only have to wait for the next attack to do something", Mebius said, frowning, while playing with little Lia. 

"That's what we don't want", Robin said, resigned. "Guess we'll just have to wait, as Mebius said" 

"And what about planning some strategy?", Yukito asked, dropping his collector's series magazine, in which he was reading some really old mangas and comics. "Maybe if we manage to trap her somewhere, we can get to ask her some questions" 

"That would be really helpful", Robin said, thoughtfully. "But it just applies if we already knew beforehand what they would do, because we don't know what she has in mind for us. Maybe she has more reinforcements guarding her back. 

"It's a risk we should take", Cage said, after listening silently to the whole chat. 

Everybody stayed silent, meditating the only suggestion they had in mind. 

"Oh, come on!", Razma protested, breaking that silence abruptly. "Do you think she's gonna answer all our questions!?!?" 

"If we all face her, ready to charge our weapons, or doing as if we were about to do that, maybe she does", Yukito said, still thinking it was a good idea. 

"And what if that gal is a suicide runner and makes her LEV explode, with us along?", the red haired boy asked back, sharply. 

"You are thinking too much, Razma", Semyl said, worried. 

"And that's wrong?", he asked back, challenging and annoyed.  
"Not at all", the reddish haired gal replied, thoughtfully. 

Everybody stood silent, again, trying to think in something. 

"Maybe she ends up saying who she is and for whom she works", Cage suggested, thoughtfully. "It seemed she wanted to say more things in the last encounter" 

"Again, we would have to wait for another attack", Robin said, remembering Mebius phrase from before. 

"And what's more, we should try to find out what they are after", Twede said, suddenly, catching the others attention. 

"He's right", Razma said, puzzled. "Like always" 

"Thanks for that", Twede acknowledge, grinning. 

"If only we could know that", Robin sighed, resigned. 

"It's strange that Hazel can't see any connection between the attack to her Labs and all those other attacks", Warren said. 

"You don't mean you think she's not trustworthy, do you?", Mebius asked him, quite suspiciously. 

"I never said that nor intended to say it", he said, calmly, and evading her sight. 

"Yes, it's strange", Robin said, not thinking too much in that. "But it can be true what she says. She said she was just an administrative worker there" 

"A new one", Yukito added. 

"So we are clueless again", Mebius replied, resigned, and paying much more attention to the little girl than to the current topic. 

"Unless we try to contact Hazel's cousin", Yukito said. 

"You mean we use Cynthia as a spy?", Robin asked him, not very convinced. 

"Hazel would kill you if she ever finds out that you suggested that. She won't let her join us that easily", Myona said, thinking in the harsh behavior Hazel showed when her cousin's topic popped up in some conversation. 

"Maybe if we convince her…", Yukito suggested, doubtfully. 

"But she wouldn't be able to do much", Cage said, suddenly. "We even don't know what we are looking for, so how would she know what to investigate?" 

"Hazel said it before: LEV researchers", the green haired man replied, convinced with that hypothesis. 

"That's not the only possibility", Warren stated, coldly. "It's not a bad idea, but they could also be searching for something else" 

"You may be right", Mebius said, still playing with Lia, who was also playing with Myona and Semyl now. 

"Anyway, we know nothing about them", Robin said, resigned, trying to close that topic. "I'm going to take a nap", she said, ready to leave the room. 

She hadn't walked a meter when the radar started emitting its characteristic sound, proper of an eventual attack. 

"Just great", Robin said, turning back. "I just had to forget about that so it could happen" 

"This guys sure know how to deal with us. They won't change their location", Twede said, checking the data coming from the screen. "Another civilian area, near the Altea district, again", he informed, resigned. 

"Well, that means that everybody goes, except Twede and I, and that means that we have no one to drive the Calibur", Robin analyzed. 

"What? Isn't Hazel here?", Razma asked, confused. He could have sworn he had seen the light haired gal before. 

"Not now", Myona replied. "It seems that she got a call from her cousin earlier and she left", the purple haired youth explained. 

"Ah, I see", he said, still confused. 

"Robin, you are forgetting about me", Myona make her notice. 

"Ah, yes!", the woman replied, quickly. "I counted you, but I hadn't assigned you anything. Alright, you go on the Calibur, but take care", she explained, taking Lia with her. 

"I will" 

Afterwards, the runners went into the garage, and soon they left… 

*** 

"So it's here, isn't it?", Warren asked, somewhat annoyed. He was surely sick of fighting a shadow… 

"Yeah, Pops", Yukito replied his friend, tired. "I wonder what we will find today" 

"Raptors, Mummyheads and some fighting LEVs", Robin's voice answered the green haired man's question. 

"Woah, what a performance, Robin!", he joked. "You couldn't get it even faster" 

"Thanks", the light haired woman replied, giggling. "Now, finish them off and try to get some data about that group. That Ruth shouldn't be that far" 

"Ok", Cage replied, after listening to the chat without getting into it. 

*** 

"Come on, Hazel! It isn't that crazy!", Cynthia begged to her cousin, anxiously. 

The two cousins were walking side by side through the streets of the Vecanta neighborhood, just a few blocks distance from the exclusive, tidy Altea district, Cynthia's home. Cynthia had called her cousin to pick her up from school, so they would be able to have a long chat, much to Hazel's anger, because she knew her cousin wasn't going to ask her about her life since the last time she saw her, but she would try to convince her to get her in BIS. She was starting to hate herself so much for having rescued her in first place, and then because she took her to the hideout. If she hasn't done so, everything would be different, was her thought, but she excused herself thinking that with Cynthia, everything was so improbable. Maybe she would have want to join, even if she hadn't brought her to the Saoshyant. That was what Hazel was thinking while they were walking along the avenue. 

"You say that because you have no idea of what you are trying to get yourself into!", Hazel replied, annoyed, to her cousin. The wind was moving her hair gently, making even more noticeable her natural darker lock of hair in the right side, next to her ear. "You think it's just a youth's game, while it isn't!", she went on, not very friendly. 

"I know that, I'm not that stupid!", Cynthia returned back, also annoyed. "You keep on treating me like a little kid, while I'm not that anymore!" 

"Cynthia, understand me, please!", Hazel told her, not walking anymore, and facing her cousin. "I can't let you join them, even if I wanted to! First: it's dangerous. Second: you are only seventeen, that means that you are young. Third: you come from another 'social sphere', where this could be seen as being the devil in person. Fourth –and most important: your mother will hang me from the laundry room if she ever knows I drove you into this, then she'll send you to a convent or to collect stones in Jupiter, depending on her rage!", she exclaimed, enumerating the 'issues' with her fingers, and trying to make the final year student think of the magnitude of the problem. 

Cynthia stood silent for a while, thinking. She didn't want to be a burden for her hazel, but she also wanted to have some excitement in her boring, scheduled life. 

"Look, Haz", she told her, calling her by her 'unofficial' pet name. "I want to help. My life is so boring, this is the opportunity of a lifetime to change it, and I don't want to let it pass just next to me. Then, I don't care bout that 'social sphere' you mention! I hadn't chosen to be there!", she exclaimed, highly annoyed. "And Mom doesn't have to know that. I would be a part time member. Like you", she said, calmer now. "Please, Hazel, I beg you: let me join", she said, looking at her with some pitiful eyes, as a little dog crying. 

Hazel was touched by that, but just a little, and not enough to change her opinion. 

"I said, no", she replied, continuing with her walk. 

"Come on! I also have a personal issue pending with them!", Cynthia exclaimed, hurrying to her cousin's side. "They almost killed me in public! And just for being at a shopping mall!", she added, angry with that event. 

Hazel thought for a while, and then she remembered. Her cousin was one of the innocent civilians caught be Earth's Taskforce Acemos, and was held hostage by them. To make the matter worse, she was driven to a platform where many other innocent people were, and accused of being from a terrorist, BIS, the same one she was now trying to get into. If those rebels wouldn't appear by noon, there would have been a public 'hearing', according to the media, but with those beasts around, she was more likely to be roasted like a chicken… Fortunately for her and the others, they showed up and saved them. And she hadn't said a little word of thanks last time, at the hideout… it was her time to do something as a 'thank-you'. That was what Cynthia thought, and she was a bit ashamed of it. 

"And how are you so certain that Earth's the one behind this?", Hazel asked, still unconvinced. 

"Oh, come on!", Cynthia exclaimed, sort of surprised. "Who on the universe would want to damage Mars? Fellow Martians? No, I don't think so", she said. 

"Anyway, you won't join", Hazel said, still coldly. "Are you sure why do you want to do this? Aren't you doing this to oppose your parents and reality? This is no teenage rebellion, you know…" 

"Come on, Hazel! You don't know how I felt that day around those people! You don't have the slightest idea of what it feels feeling something like that", Cynthia said all of a sudden, annoyed, and just after she closed her mouth she realized what she had said, and was starting to regret it greatly. 

Hazel stood still, as if a lightening had struck her, but it wasn't raining, yet. She faced her cousin, but she just looked at her, with a mix of anger and sorrow. 

"I'm sorry, Haz", Cynthia started apologizing, feeling really sad. "I didn't want to say that… please forgive me…" 

Cynthia's voice was really sorrowful, and it seemed she wouldn't rest until the light haired youth forgave her. However, Hazel hadn't said a word, and wasn't going to do that, apparently. She just went on walking. 

"Hazel… please…", Cynthia started asking again, not giving up. 

Just then, they heard the noise of combat taking place near them. It hadn't taken that long to see some unmanned units, like four or six Raptors, and the familiar figures of Caliburnus and Dreizhen near those ones. 

"Now what?!?", Cynthia asked, angrily, while watching at those figures up in the sky. Many of the few civilians that were walking along the street looked up, too, and they either stayed there or started running, in haste. 

"Another attack", Hazel replied, coldly. "Those are Semyl and Razma, against some unknown force". 

"Oh, just great. Talking about Rome…", Cynthia said, ironically. "And what are we supposed to do now?!?", she asked, afraid. 

"We should escape from here", Hazel replied, trying to remain calm, but she was already frightened. "Maybe if we get by an internal street we can get out easier…" 

"Yes, let's do that!", Cynthia exclaimed, feeling it was her chance to show her cousin she wasn't that useless. "I know this area well, I'll guide you!", she said, picking Hazel's hand and running to the avenue corner, where she would turn left to reach a quiet internal street –whatever street that would seem calm and quiet. 

"Hey, Cynthia! Drop my hand! I can run alone, you know!", Hazel complained, annoyed, but not because of her cousin's behavior, but because she was hurting her, as she was holding it tighter and tighter with each step. 

"Ah! Sorry!", she apologized, releasing the youth's hand. 

"Hey, where are we going?", Hazel asked, confused. They had already walked three blocks, and the area wasn't as nice as it was around the avenue. In fact, it looked more like the suburbs, with many untidy houses and no one around. 

"Oh, don't worry", Cynthia said, now walking. "We are already out of danger" 

"When I said I want to get out of there, I didn't mean that I wanted to end in some ugly place, Cynt", Hazel said, staring at her surroundings. 

"That's the worst part. Or we stayed there, in the 'elegant area', or we got here, which is the 'not so elegant' area, which is definitely calmer, but no one is around", she explained, now a bit afraid of her decision. 

Just then, a loud noise came from one of the houses at their back. They turned back, frightened, but they saw nothing. Another noise could be heard, and then another one, and they realized that it wasn't from any of the houses, but from combat. The 'battlefield' changed its disposition, or it got bigger. 

"Cynthia, we have to hide somewhere!", Hazel said, in a hurry. 

"Look! There!", her student cousin exclaimed, pointing at the other block. "There's a big place, and it's opened! We can hide there!", she added, already running towards it. 

"You aren't serious…", Hazel mumbled, softly. 

"You want to die or what?", her cousin asked her, annoyed. "It's the best thing we have now. Take it or leave it. I'll take it", she said, waiting for her cousin's answer. 

"Alright, I'm going", Hazel replied, resigned. 

They went to that place, which resembled an abandoned factory, and they got into through what once was a garage. What they found there took their breath away… 

"Oh my…", Hazel said, staring at their finding. 

"Seems I have a radar for this things", Cynthia said, also astonished. 

Right in front of them, in that dusty, almost crumbling place, there were two huge, big, impressive Orbital Frames, standing one next to the other. The one at the right was the tallest, with a pair of really thin legs, which made it look even taller than what it was, and it had two hands, without any hint of any weapon on them. It was grey and blue, which made Hazel shake, because it resembled her hair and eyes. Its head looked like the one of a lady wearing a helmet. 

The other one was a little smaller, but still impressive. It was greenish, with some bluish shades, and there weren't any weapons in its hands also. Its face also resembled a lady, this one wearing a turban. 

"Seems that the Muslim fashion got to the OFs", Cynthia joked, almost like a whisper. 

"It's been a long while since I was in a place like this", Hazel said, softly, and lost in herself. "Time surely speeds right by…", she said, now as a whisper. 

Her mind was in confusion. Some memories, old memories that she couldn't tell if they were her own or product of her imagination or even a movie popped up in her mind, haunting her. The image of a room filled with many huge things, that resembled LEVs was present in her mind. A little girl was walking through that place, holding a woman's hand. But every time she wanted to see the woman's face, the memory was blurred, and she couldn't see anything… 

"Oh, you sure are fatalist!", Cynthia's voice called Hazel back to reality, harshly. "Come on! Don't be so serious! Enjoy what you have to live! Life is short, fall in love young maiden…", Cynthia started reciting, first with her eyes closed, but then she stopped her speech, when she noticed her cousin's odd face. 

"What is it?", she asked, shyly, looking at her cousin's puzzled face. "Hey, I'm not crazy! Someone read that at school in my Literature class. It's not a piece of a cheap soup-opera, it's art", she said, making it sound important and over-acted. 

"Yeah, right", Hazel sighed, sort of resigned. Her cousin always had to 'win' or 'draw' the situation… 

"Well, what are we gonna do with this things? Combat's being held outside, you know…" 

Hazel's eyes widened, and she could feel an icy sensation running throughout her body. Cynthia was definitely resolved to ride one of those things, while she… she wasn't of those types. Riding a LEV was something different, but an Orbital Frame… It was something she couldn't feel like doing, especially after hearing about some people who developed some strange problems due to being overexposed to Metatron, the 'fuel' of those giant things. 

"And, Hazel? What are you going to do? I'm going in, and you won't be able to stop me this time". 

Cynthia's determined, menacing voice made her blink tough, releasing her from her 'thoughtful state'. 

"I… you can't be serious!" 

The noise of combat was coming nearer and nearer. The others had to be having a really tough time outside, judging for the noises and the time they were fighting. 

"Had you heard that? I'm not going to stay here, waiting for the building to collapse, dear Hazel!", Cynthia yelled, ironically. 

"Alright, I'm going in, but you are staying here!", Hazel replied, gathering all the courage she thought she had already lost. 

"Now you are joking!", Cynthia's voice was still ironic. "I gave you the idea, so I'm going in. I choose the greenish one. You go on Tempus Fugit", the brown haired student determined, solemnly. 

"Tempus Fugit? Where did you get that?", Hazel asked suspiciously. "Don't tell me that you know much more than what you say…" 

"Are you serious?", Cynthia played scandalized, climbing her way to the cockpit. "That's one of Literature topics, the one that speaks about how time slips by, so I thought it would be a great name for an Orbital Frame rode by a fatalist" 

"Thanks for the opinion you have of me", the light haired youth mumbled, also making her way to the cockpit, blaming herself of the current situation and cursing her impulsive cousin at each step. "And how's yours supposed to be called?". Now she was regretting her lack of authority, because she was about to drive her rebel cousin into a madness… 

"Carpe Diem", her cousin replied, reaching the cockpit. "Enjoy the moment, another Literature topic. Isn't it perfect for me?" 

"Sure" 

Both cousins finally reached their respective cockpits. The sat in, and the cockpit closed, turning in the OFs internal lights and the artificial intelligence screen. Hazel felt somewhat comfortable there, much to her amusement. 

"I wonder who owns this things…", Cynthia's voice reached Hazel through the speakers. 

"Now you won't start with any remorse scene, will you?", she replied annoyed by her cousin's attitude: 'Let's borrow something, then we wonder about its origin'. 

"Hey, I said that just to say something, to kill some time!", the younger girl complained at the instant. "Now, how does this thing work?" 

"Follow the screen. I guess the instructions should be there", was Hazel's awkward answer. 

"Oh, just great… God, help us" 

*** 

"And? How are things going there?", Robin's voice asked. 

"Smoothly", Yukito replied, finishing a raptor. "Guess we just have to kill three 'Phantoma' LEVs 

and a mummyhead and we can go home" 

"A combat LEV type B is coming from the east", Semyl warned, after striking one of the phantoma LEVs. 

"I wonder where that Ruth gal is right now…", Ares thought in loud voice, hitting with the Vjaya's Beam Web the same LEV Semyl was taking care of. 

"Someone called?" 

It wasn't that hard to realize that the blonde haired woman from the unknown force was back. Even with her custom LEV she showed her cold, distant behavior. 

"What do you want now?!?", Cage asked annoyed, after firing Will's Beam Bow against one of the LEVs, and finishing it off. 

"Oh, my… seems that you are pissed off… what a bad sign…", Ruth stated ironically, laughing at the end of her sentence. "Just looking at your performance, that's all" 

"So you are just checking our strength in a civilian area?!?", the bluish haired boy asked, still not wanting to believe that. "You should be ashamed of that!!" 

"Yeah, Mamma, later", the blonde haired woman replied, faking an annoyed tone of voice. "You aren't that good, you know… Guess it's time to leave…", she added, starting her LEV engine. 

"Wait a second!!", an unknown, yet once heard voice ordered, severely. "You little minions who look like demons who crawl in the dark… I'll tear you into pieces!!!" 

"Oh, Cynthia, come on! Why do you have to do a show from everything?", a more familiar voice complained, highly annoyed. 

"Damn… you are no fun…" 

Everyone stood of a piece, and after their astonishment, they could see two new more OFs standing at their right, facing BIS and the unknown group. 

"What's this?!?", Myona asked, frightened at the sight of those two new, intimidating OFs. 

"Hey, I like that spirit!!", Yukito exclaimed, highly excited, and glad to hear about someone who may have similar interest with him. After all, that first quote seemed proper of a magical girl show… 

"Hazel?", Ares mumbled, without wanting it. 

"Hazel, is that you?!?", Robin asked, as soon as she could get out of her surprise. If it wasn't for Ares, she would still be trying to guess who talked earlier.  
"Yeah, it's me", Hazel's voice filled the BIS members cockpits and the Saoshyant. She was trying to repress a smile. "Cynthia's here, also" 

"Hi!!", the mentioned student greeted everyone, cheerfully. "Hey, let's show them who's the boss here! Hazel, what do I do know?". Cynthia's excitement banished soon to leave room to the worry… 

"I told you! Follow the screen!!", Hazel complained, angrily. She was busy trying to understand her own OF. 

"It should be enough with this…", she thought, selecting her attack. The right hand of her OF turned into a gun, and some reddish shots came from it, 'roasting' the 'Phantoma' LEV she had in front of her. 

"Woha, that was neat!", Cynthia exclaimed, really excited. "I won't be less!" 

She waited until her meter charged, and then, from the right arm of her OF, a lance materialized from the OFs right arm, and sliding through it, reached Carpe's hand. Automatically, the OF threw it, and made the remaining LEV collapse. 

"This… this can't be!!", Ruth cried, not wanting to believe her eyes. "Ah… retreat! All remaining units, retreat!!", she ordered, turning back and driving her OF at top speed. The remaining units did the same, almost at a 'blink speed'. 

"Impressive", Warren stated, coming from his surprise. 

"Where did you find that?!?!", Semyl asked, a little envious of the newcomers stuff. 

"Return to Saoshyant right now", Robin called. "We'll talk here" 

"Going", Cage replied, tired. 

*** 

"So you decided to get on those OFs and lend us a hand, uh?", Robin summarized, after the rest of the BIS gang listened carefully to Hazel and Cynthia's story. 

"Yep", Cynthia nodded, feeling proud of herself. "Hadn't we had some terrible good luck?" 

"You can say that. I would have preferred not to get near those things", Hazel replied, still uncertain if that was the best thing to do. 

"But you sure seemed like an experienced runner, Hazel", Warren said, but nobody could tell if it was a praise or some sort of accusation. 

"I didn't do anything. That thing just told me, by its instructions on the screen, how to use it" 

"Anyway, you didn't hesitate at any moment", Warren remarked, again. 

"Come on, it was the logical thing to do!", Hazel exclaimed, defending herself. It was like a habit for her to do that. "If that thing would have sent the instructions to blow up the entire frame, you can bet your own life that I would have followed the instructions anyway. I know nothing about OFs." 

"It's alright, you don't have to be always at your defensive, Hazel", Mebius told her, trying to calm her. For her, Hazel seemed like a nervous kitten when she started defending herself: always on guard, and if you get too near, she may hurt you, for some reason… 

"Thank God someone thinks as me!", Cynthia thanked, looking upside her, as if she were searching for him to thank him. "I always tell her the same thing, but she doesn't change at all" 

"Just like you", the mentioned girl grinned. "I always tell you not to be so rebel, and you just go and look for the most risky things you can find in your way" 

Cynthia stayed silent, but not saddened. In fact, she was smiling, as if she were about to proclaim her victory over her cousin. 

"You said indirectly", she said, smiling. "I'm here, after having run an OF… that means I can join, if they accept me…", she added, looking at the whole BIS gang except her cousin, asking for their help with her only glance and her mischievous smile… 

"Not again!", Hazel complained, but not angrily as all the other times before, but already resigned. "We've talked about this many times…" 

"You'll have to face it… I have to repay what they had done for me…", her cousin referred to the 'public hearing' incident of almost two years before. "I can also be useful" 

Hazel frowned, and didn't spend much time thinking about it. 

"I won't waste more time and strength with this… But only if you take care of yourself and don't depend completely on me, and if you won't be a burden for the others…", she finally said, resigning to her already lost cause. 

"Really?" 

"You won't hear me saying it, so you'll have to analyze what I said", Hazel stated quite annoyed. 

"Yay!! I knew you would give up with that behavior sooner or later!", Cynthia exclaimed, clapping her hands, and as happy as a little girl with a new toy or at an amusement park. Then, she stopped doing that, and faced the rest of the BIS crowd. "Now I need your ok" 

Everyone looked at each other, sort of confused. Hazel just turned back, and faced the wall. She didn't want to see her cousin's 'victory'. 

"Well… if you want that so much…", Robin started saying, quite awkwardly, because she was caught by surprise with that question. "But just as a short period member" 

"Thanks!!" 

"Hazel, hadn't you said that she would join over your dead body or something like that?", Cage asked her, surprised of her lack of insistence in that matter. 

"I guess she had already killed me…", Hazel replied, still annoyed, but smiling lightly. 

"Oh, don't worry about that", Cynthia explained, confidently. "She may say stuff like that, but she's not as tough as she seems" 

"Cynthia, you are making a really bad image of me…" 

The brown haired student didn't pay attention to her cousin remark, and kept on looking at everything at the BIS hideout, eager to know more about her new environment. 

"Cynthia?", Semyl called, curious. 

"Aye?", she replied, turning back and leaving in its place a bunch of papers she had found in the table. 

"What were you doing at the shopping mall that day when they trapped us?", the red haired youth asked, highly interested. 

"Oh, how could I forget it? There was a sale in one of those shops! Oh, I bought a wondrous leather skirt and many other clothes that day! And as cheap as if I bought them at the factory!", the brown haired student exclaimed, in an attack of excitement when she thought about all those clothes she bought. 

Many of the BIS members looked at each other puzzled, but Hazel was eager to run away from there, as she had a "what's in store for me with her around?" face. Not that her cousin was too childish, but she was greatly unbearable when she started with some immature things, proper of a normal teenager… "normal teenager", she said? She was now starting to think what that meant… 

"Now, we should do what we are going to do with those things", Mebius said, and that sentence made hazel re-join the others, coming back from her thoughts. 

"It's not a good idea to keep them, but it would be a worst one to leave them somewhere, where anybody could take them, including Ruth's group", Robin judged. "By the way, had you heard how frightened she sound when she saw the new OFs? That was rather strange…" 

"Maybe we have already found what we were looking for", Yukito stated. "Those OFs could bring her to us, or make her plan an ambush to get them" 

"Whatever she may plan, we have to be stay very alert from now on" 

"You don't have to say it twice" 

*** 

Thanks for the reviews, people! And Silvace, of course I remember you, I almost owe you this fic! (I wouldn't have finished the first chapter if I hadn't read that post at the PSDB and hadn't reconsider it, and thanks for your encouragement!! Indirectly, you save this fic from the recycle bin –well, not at that extent, but almost… ^_^). Thanks for your suggestions (I know I keep on putting 'character said' every now and then, I'm sorry everybody, but having so many characters talking at the same time makes me put that, almost unconsciously!) I'll try to correct that, I'll do my best (if I don't fall asleep while writing, of course =P). Well, all for now… see you on chapter 7. 


	7. Metatron armored ladies

Chapter 7: Metatron armored Ladies 

"Hey, we should organize to do something someday, don't you think so?" 

Semyl's proposal was something that the youths present in the main room wanted to hear. 

"Hey, when you want you can think in great ideas", Razma joked, acting surprised by Semyl's idea. It was one of those days when he 'needed' to do those bad jokes, using his companion as a blank. 

"See? At least I use my brain, not like others…", the red hair girl said, offended and looking at him with the corner of her eye. 

Myona and Cage, the remaining people in the room, laughed. Semyl and Razma sure were something to laugh at when they started quarreling, especially for those trivial issues. 

The rest of the group was in the garage, taking a look –a deep one- at the new OFs, the ones that Hazel and Cynthia 'borrowed' from some unknown hangar. Except Yukito, who had to be taking a nap, and Hazel and Cynthia, who weren't at the hideout, the others were busy. 

Razma and Semyl looked at the merry couple, as if they were looking for the source of their laughs, then looked at each other, and understanding why the others were so amused, they got silent, sort of ashamed of their behavior. 

"Hey, it's not that serious", Myona giggled, unable to stop. "You are quite funny when you start quarreling" 

"Ha, very funny", Razma complained, still ashamed of himself. 

"We should go to the orphanage", Semyl suggested, trying to drive the attention to a new topic. "It's been a while since you last saw the kids…" 

"Since we left Mars", Cage completed, trying to stop laughing. 

"How are they doing?", Myona asked, remembering the three children. 

"Oh, better than never", Semyl giggled. "Jojo's a complete young lady. She's already 13, you know. Gilbert is quite overprotective with me, he sometimes doesn't allow Razma to get near me, but he's doing the same with Jojo, although they keep on arguing almost all day, while Pauly tries to calm them down" 

"Impressive…", Myona commented, laughing. 

"Oh, Cage", the red haired girl called him. "Jojo still remembers that promise, if you want to know…", she added, seriously. 

"Ah, what?" 

Everyone looked at the blue haired boy, who was trying to get out of the face of Mars. Before he left the red planet, that little girl, Jojo, asked him if they would marry someday, and, awkwardly, he replied yes, thinking it was just a children's game. But now it seemed more serious… 

"Look where you got yourself into…", Myona told her, a bit annoyed. 

"I… eh…", Cage mumbled, confused. "I didn't… I thought…" 

Semyl couldn't stand it any longer and burst into laughter. Soon, Razma followed her. 

"What is so funny?", Cage asked, annoyed. "I'm in great trouble, you know…" 

Semyl tried to speak, but she couldn't do it properly, because her laughter was too much for her. 

"It's… hahaha… a joke, Cage", she said, between her laughs, and still laughing.  
"You sure fall in it, pal", Razma joked, trying to remain calm. 

Myona also felt tempted, and she started to laugh, too. 

"A joke…?", Cage raised an eyebrow. "At least I'm not in that big trouble, thankfully" 

"I don't know her thoughts about that", Semyl warned, now calmer. "She may still wait for you, though" 

"We'll find out the day we go to the orphanage" 

"Yes, you are right, Cage. But we have to arrange for some day. I have to see if the kids are there before going." 

"Alright", he said, convinced. "You arrange everything". 

The door to the main room opened, and Hazel and Cynthia came through it. 

"Hi!!!", Cynthia greeted, cheerfully. Her smile could be ideal for a teeth paste advert. 

"Hello", Hazel greeted, much shyly than her easy-going cousin. 

"Ah, hi!", Semyl greeted, surprised. 

"What are you doing here, gals?", Cage asked. 

"I just wanted to know if you got new data", Hazel said, inspecting briefly the room. 

"And I have to learn to make my way here", Cynthia added, smiling. "What were you doing, guys?" 

"Ah, just chatting", Razma smiled. "While the others are checking those OFs you found" 

"Really?", Hazel asked, smiling for the first time. "And where are they?" 

"At the hangar. You know how to get there, don't you?" 

"Yes, thanks. I'm going there. See you" 

With that, Hazel was gone, while Cynthia stayed there, chatting a bit with the younger crowd of BIS. 

Hazel made her way, and walked fown the stairs that led to the hangar. Soon, she found the others, gathered behind Ares, who was searching for some data at the computer. 

"Hi", Hazel said, making the others looked at her way. 

"Oh, hi Hazel", Robin greeted her, cheerfully. "What brings you here?" 

"Curiosity", the light blue haired girl smiled. "Could you get something about those things?" 

"Not much", Mebius sighed. "Ares has been trying to get something from them for quite a good time, but he hasn't gotten much, yet" 

"I can't find the blueprint, or anything related to who made them", the mentioned guy explained, dealing with some complex codes in his screen. The screen was filled with numbers and strange letters, that weren't any helpful or 'friendly' at all. "We could just get what weapons they can recreate, but nothing more" 

"How did you get all that hacking knowledge?", Hazel asked him, while staring at the screen, surprised. "I can barely call myself lucky if I could hack into the Labs system…" 

"Have you already tried doing that?", Warren asked her, following that 'hint'. "Maybe you can find something you didn't know from there…" 

"I've already tried, but it's shut down, and I can't figure any way to access it" 

Ares went on his searching, and then he replied to Hazel, almost without paying attention to her topic. "Well, I learnt by myself… reading and hacking, you know…" 

"Terrific", she sighed, as if it pained her. 

"According to the data that Ares found, the OF you run the other day can turn its hands into either a sword or a gun. Cynthia's OF can turn them into those weapons, also, but it adds a lance, the attack that we saw the other day", Robin explained, checking her notes. "I wonder who made those… and why…", she said, thoughtfully, while staring at them. 

Hazel also took a look at those 'steel', metatron giants. There was something in her that made her feel frightened just by seeing them, and in the other hand, she felt normal around them. She felt confident last time in battle, her first battle with an Orbital Frame and the second one in her entire life. It was so strange for her… 

"Do you remember anything odd at that place where you found those?", Mebius asked Hazel, making the light blue haired girl blink, and to return to the real world. 

"I… I don't think so. It was just a normal place, a common hangar. It really seemed old and dirty, but apart from that, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Maybe Cynthia saw something, but I really doubt it" 

"Someone called my name?", Cynthia exclaimed cheerfully, on top of the stairs. 

"Do you remember having seen anything strange at that garage where we got the OFs?", Hazel asked her thoughtfully, as her cousin was coming down the stairs. 

"No… not at all", she said, trying to remember. "Not that I paid much attention to it after seeing those things right in front of us…" 

"What I thought…", Hazel sighed. 

"Anything wrong with that, dear cousin?" 

"Not at all" 

"How did you name them?", Ares asked the cousins, his sight fixed in the screen. "So I could start a data sheet for them…" 

"I called mine, the greenish one, 'Carpe Diem', a.k.a. 'Carpe' for the friends", Cynthia giggled. "As for Hazel's one, the greyish one, it's temporal name is 'Tempus Fugit', or however she wants to call it" 

"I don't like that name", Hazel said softly, staring at her OF. "Thanks for that one, Cynt, but I feel it doesn't match with it. Like that name doesn't suit it…" 

"And how do you want to call it?" 

Hazel thought for a while, still looking at the grey structure, as if she could find the answer in its eyes. 

"Alright, just call it 'Tempus Fugit' for now. I hope to come by with a better name for it" 

"You named them after Literature topics?", Warren asked, curious. 

"Blame Cynthia. It was her idea", Hazel smiled lightly, with her eyes closed, as if she was feeling well with that. 

"Yep. Those topics really suit us. That has to be the only interesting thing I learned at school" 

"You'll stay as the original runners?", Ares asked, without expecting any catastrophe with that question. 

"Yes!", Cynthia exclaimed, just to find Hazel glaring at her. 

"Cynthia", she said, calling her cousin by her name, instead of her pet name 'Cynt'. That was a hint that she was becoming angry at her. "I hope you are just joking" 

"Not at all", Cynthia replied challenging. "You weren't expecting me to stay here, with my arms closed while you were having all the fun, were you?" 

"Cynthia…", her cousin said angrily, but then she changed her strategy. She breathed heavily, and said, as if she didn't care, "Alright, do what you want. But then don't come to cry in my shoulder" 

"Thanks, cousin!", the brown haired student exclaimed, hugging Hazel, who was sighing resigned. 

"You already gave up, Hazel", Mebius giggled. 

"Seems so", the resigned girl replied. "I won't worry, or I'll die from a heart attack tomorrow" 

"Hey, people", Robin called, examining the new OFs. 

"Yes?" 

"Can't you recognize anything familiar in those OFs?", she asked, trying to guess what it could be. 

"You feel the same as I", Hazel noticed. "But I can't tell what it is…" 

"I really have no idea…", Cynthia admitted, thoughtfully. "That's something I've never seen at school or outside it" 

"They seem quite normal to me", Ares said, looking at them through his glasses, but then he took them off. "I've finished with this. I can't find anything else for now, Robin" 

"So our business is finished by now? Good, we can go and have some drinks as a reward for our hard work" 

"Alcohol? I'm in!", Cynthia exclaimed, trying to sound cool. 

"Ahem, Cynt?", Hazel called her, like someone who has something under her sleeve. "We are almost at 4:00 PM, so I think they are referring to some coffee, tea or colas, and not to vodka, whisky or something like that. Second, you don't usually drink, so don't try to sound cool and experienced", she said, winking her left eye and smiling, as she saw the hatred in her cousin's eyes. 

"Sometimes I hate you with all my strength" 

"Thanks, me too", Hazel added, laughing. 

"And I thought you wouldn't smile again…", Cynthia mumbled softly, so no one could hear her. 

"Anything wrong, Cynt?", Hazel asked naturally, but at heart she knew what her cousin was thinking. 

"No, not at all", Cynthia replied, feeling guilty, as she always felt each time Hazel did that: she had that gift to make her feel guilty, just by talking naturally, and sometimes even smiling… 

"Well, let's prepare everything for our 'after lunch'", Mebius proposed cheerfully, as ever. 

However, they hadn't walked even two steps when Twede popped up from somewhere. 

"A civilian zone is under attack", he informed, impersonal as ever. 

"Ah!!! Where did you came from?!?!?", Cynthia asked him afraid, as he was standing next to her and she hadn't noticed him before. 

"Don't worry, he always does that", Mebius explained, disapproving Twede's methods of appearing. "You'll get used soon" 

"I hope so… or he'll kill me of a heart attack" 

"There are some signals coming from the Gemini sector", Twede reported, without paying attention to the others. "I've just got the signal, so if we hurry we can prevent some disgrace in a civilian area" 

"The Gemini sector…?", Hazel asked thoughtfully, as if she didn't want or couldn't believe her ears. 

"Yes, Anything's wrong, Hazel?", Robin asked her. Hazel's sudden change wasn't of her liking. 

"No…", the light haired girl replied, still finding it difficult to believe. 

"Well, let's go! Do the others now?" 

"We are right here, Robin!", Razma yelled, coming into the hangar with the others. 

"The only one that's missing is Yukito" 

The younger crowd looked at each other, and then Razma replied, 

"He must still be taking his 'siesta', Robin. I think somebody else has to go and wake him up. You know that he gets up quite furious when he's awakened by somebody else. Last time it was my turn…" 

"Alright, I'm going", Warren said, resigned. He knew too well what Razma meant, but he knew how to deal with a somewhat pissed off Yukito. 

"Well, let's get going, people! What are you waiting for?!?", Robin encouraged the others, hurrying them. 

*** 

Strangeness. That was what Hazel was feeling in that cockpit. Loneliness… and fear. Feelings that usually go together, and so known by Hazel… She was regretting her choice over and over again while going to the Gemini sector with the others. 

"What drove me to stay here? Why hadn't I flown away when I could? I could have escaped like the others at the Labs… And why I accepted running this… thing?", she asked herself, already knowing that she wouldn't find the answers. Some uncertain feeling made her stay at BIS, and something even more strange drove her to get into that OF, without counting Cynthia's insistence. 

"What will come from this?", her grey eyes were trembling, trying to suppress a few rebel tears which were struggling to escape from her eyes. "Will I ever understand this thing?" 

A red light from Tempus Fugit's panel shone and disappeared at the same instant, as if it tried to answer her. Hazel dried up those attempt of tears, and turned left in the coming crossroad, following the others. 

*** 

It didn't take them too long to reach the Gemini sector, a middle class civilian area. This time it was even more illogical the battlefield, unless some important person lived there, without being of general knowledge. 

"Hazel, isn't this…?", Cynthia started asking, a bit frightened. 

"Yes", Hazel replied, as if she couldn't still believe it. 

"What are you going to do if things go out wrong?!?!?" 

"Let's try to be positive and wait to see what happens after the battle", Hazel replied, trying to sound cool, but she wasn't feeling too convinced of her own words. 

"Everyone's there?", Robin asked from the Saoshyant. 

"We are all here, Robin", Warren answered back, checking the OFs and LEVs present. "No signs of enemies, though" 

"They have to be hidden somewhere. Don't let your guard down!" 

"Robin, they were just waiting you to say that pop out", Yukito joked, although what he was saying was real. 

Just then, 10 unmanned units (Mummyheads and Raptors were their only supply, in appearance) showed up right behind them, and started firing their guns at the BIS squad. 

"Alright, let's show them who's the boss!!", Semyl encouraged, feeling some adrenaline flowing through her veins. 

The group started its counterattack, splitting in little groups to fight the enemy units in a more organized way. 

"Hazel, I think it's showtime!", Cynthia exclaimed cheerfully, ready to charge against a Mummyhead. 

"Cynthia, aren't you afraid of those things?" 

"I don't want to think in that. I'm already here, so let's destroy them!" 

"I wish I could think more as she does", Hazel thought, a bit saddened. "How can she even fight if she's a bit frightened by those things? I would really want some of her attitude…" 

"And, Hazel?", her cousin called her, impatiently. "We are to attack at the same time!" 

"Why?" 

"Because I need to see you first, so I can face them more confidently" 

"Cynthia….", Hazel was about to start a rant about duties and obligations, but she didn't. instead, she just said, "Alright" 

Hazel looked back at her OF's control panel. She picked the first option for weapon that she found. After all, she was investigating that thing, so she didn't know which button to push or what to do. 

"Let's see what this thing can do…", she whispered, facing a Mummyhead. 

The hands of her OF shone brightly, revealing a beam sword in each hand. She drove it forward, and sliced the Mummyhead twice with them, making a good deal of damage to the unmanned unit. 

"Impressive!", Robin exclaimed, smiling at that attack. "A rather useful attack" 

"Neat, Hazel!", Cynthia approved, clapping. "Now it's my turn to kill it. Die, you garbage!" 

From Carpe (Cynthia's OF)'s hand, a slim sword appeared, and it charged directly to the Mummyhead's core. Sparks of many shades came from it. 

"Yahoo!", she congratulated herself, watching her victim. "This things are quite cute, after all!" 

"Hey, I want something like those", Semyl joked, after dealing with a Raptor. "They are newbies and they have cool weapons. It's not fair!" 

"Hehehe… Seems like Lady Luck was on our side", Cynthia giggled. Hazel just limited herself to smile lightly, without making any comment. 

"Girls, don't let your guard down, they are just behind you!", Robin cried, warning the new members. 

"Where… aieeeee!!", Cynthia tried to ask, but was soon hit by a Mummyhead's phalanx. 

"Cynthia, try to get out of there!!", Hazel yelled angrily, while selecting a new attack. "When will you be a bit more careful", she mumbled worried, while her attack was loading. 

Her OF's right hand turned into a gun, and fired against the unmanned unit, finishing the work that Mebius started, by attacking that unit. 

"Hazel, Cynthia, those units are obviously after you!", Warren sentenced, looking at the remaining units going to where the girls were. "Everybody, we should go there!" 

"No, not more, please!", Cynthia begged, trying to get rid of one of the units with her OF's slim sword. 

"I… there should be a way to eliminate more than one in a single attack!!", Hazel complained for herself nervously, staring at the control panel. "Goodness…" 

"Kiiiiaaaa! Take this, you…!", Cynthia yelled, while striking with Carpe's green beam lance at one unmanned unit attacking from afar. The unit started to collapse slowly in the ground. 

"Cynthia, watch your back!", Semyl warned her, noticing three Raptors behind Carpe, the brown haired student's OF. 

"I'm going!", Hazel shouted, anxiously. 

Her OF went straight to where the last 'lined' unit was, and at a really high speed, sliced with its two swords the three Raptors in a row, killing them at the instant. 

"That… that was really impressive", Myona whispered astonished from the Calibur, looking at the three smoking, fallen Raptors. 

"Cynt, are you ok?", Hazel asked her cousin, worried. She barely paid attention to her victims, and wasn't interested in them. She was completely indifferent towards her skill. 

"That was… great! Thanks!", she replied astonished and cheerfully. "Wait, look back!" 

A new unit, which was no Mummyhead nor Raptor appeared just behind Hazel's OF. It didn't take them long to tell that it was Ruth's LEV. From its right hand, a beam blade appeared, and with it, stroke Hazel's LEV, while she was unaware. 

"Ahhh!!!!!!" 

"Hazel!!!", Cynthia exclaimed, worried. She made Carpe face the newcomer, and got ready to attack. 

"You… you demon!!", she cursed, while trying to still keep her behavior. Her OF went right in front of Ruth's LEV and, from Carpe's knee, a lance, the same green lance that appeared before from its arm, showed up. She picked it and attacked the enemy custom LEV with it, using it as a rod, striking the enemy unit twice. Right after that, she went backwards, to avoid Ruth's counterattack. 

"Hazel! How are you?!?" 

"Guess that fine…", the light blue haired girl replied, still a bit agitated. "Crap! It got me unaware!", she cursed, highly annoyed with herself. "I shouldn't be so carefree. Thanks, Cynt!" 

"You know, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself", Mebius suggested, while finishing off a wandering Raptor with her Elfin Bow. 

"I can't help it. That's me", Hazel replied, somewhat melancholic, while charging against Ruth's LEV with her gun attack. Only that this time the attack was much more powerful, and almost made Ruth's unit to loose its balance. 

"This… this can't be…!", Ruth mumbled, while trying to avoid being hit by Cage's Beam Bow, with little success. "Those OFs… I won't lose here!" 

She rose her LEV's left hand, the one equipped with some sort of giant machine gun and started firing at the both Hazel's OF and Carpe. 

"Aie! Try my powerful 'green punishment', you…!", Cynthia introduced her attack with some smalltalk, while the lance was showing up in its arm and sliding through it. In a few moments, the lance was striking Ruth's unit, almost at its core. 

"Seems you are becoming much skilled with that thing, uh?", Hazel asked her, distantly but also smiling, while taking care with her two swords attack of a bunch of Raptors which were harassing the Calibur, with Semyl's help. 

"This can't be happening… I can't be loosing like this!", Ruth yelled highly annoyed, disbelieving what she was seeing in her control panel. "I… this can't be happening to me!!" 

"I sure thought you were more capable, Ruth", a manly voice, quite disappointed, stated, from nowhere. It was the same voice they heard before, the same voice that came for Ruth the day they found Ares and the day they met Hazel. 

"Who was that?", Ares asked, checking his surroundings, but without finding anyone. 

"Marrek… don't say that!", Ruth's voice softened at the extent that many thought that it wasn't the same person of before. "I'm not over yet! I can still win!" 

"We'll discuss that later… now, retreat!" 

"But… I can show you that I'm capable of this and of more important tasks! See!" 

She went right in front of both Hazel's OF and Carpe, and launched what would be her ultimate attack: from her left hand machine gun, a storm of bullets –large, fast big bullets- went right straight to them. They would sure strike both OFs, and the building behind them, making it fall or damaging it severely. 

"Hazel… I don't think I have any defensive item!" 

"Crap", the grey eyed girl cursed coldly, distantly… 

Her hand move lightly, almost automatically. Before the bullets came too close, a red, almost crimson light covered the two OFs and part of the building, in an approximately 140° degrees angle. The bullets just vanished in it… 

"Am I not dead?", Cynthia asked, opening her eyes and noticing she was still inside Carpe. "Hazel…" 

But her cousin didn't reply. She just stared there, smiling lightly, and still distant… 

"What…?", Ruth's voice was now weak, sorrowful. Defeat… something quite odd for her. 

"Ruth!", the voice called, annoyed. "Leave this place right now! Do you want me to repeat it?!?" 

"I'm going…", Ruth replied, softly. She just turned her LEV the other way round and left, without any menace this time. The area was now clear. 

"Who was that?", Semyl asked, confused. 

"Obviously, her superior", Warren stated, thoughtful. "I wonder what they wanted here…" 

"Haze", Cynthia called her by her pet-name. "Are you ok?" 

Hazel took her time to reply. She was staring at the area. No civilian showed up, luckily, but the place was quite messy. Many unmanned units were left either on the ground or stroke many buildings, causing different damages. No building has been 'demolished' in the fight, but… mending them would take a good amount of time… 

"Yes, I'm fine", she answered, thoughtfully. "Come on, let's get out of here" 

"Hazel's right", Mebius approved, quickly. "I can bet that the UNSF is going to show up anytime soon…" 

"And they would be far too happy to blame us", Yukito added, looking at the fallen units. A raptor was still sparking right next to him. 

"Alright, let's go", Cage commanded, tired due to the long, tiring fight. 

*** 

"Tough battle, wasn't it?" 

Robin's voice greeted the tired runners as they got into the Saoshyant's main room. As they came in, they sit (or practically dropped themselves) in the sofa or seats available. 

"I have to really congratulate you, girls", she told Hazel and Cynthia, as they came in. "You defended yourselves quite well! For your first battle, anyone could say that you had at least some basic training" 

"Well… thanks", Hazel said, not so distant as before.  
"Always so humble", Cynthia giggled, while her cousin looked at her confused. 

"Anyway… everyone, great work! You managed to accomplish a good work in a quite difficult civilian area, plagued with buildings. It was rather strange that there weren't many civilians around" 

"It's Saturday", Hazel explained, naturally. "People there often go to the park at the weekends, and that's why there wasn't many people around. They take great advantage of it, because they don't have their own ' little piece of land'" 

"Woah! How do you know that?", Semyl asked her, curious about her knowledge in that part of the city. 

"I know this city fairly well. Have been here for quite some time…" 

"I see" 

"Girls", Robin called the cousins. "How did you feel inside the OFs?" 

Cynthia replied as soon as Robin finished her question. 

"Not bad, not 100% ok", she said, analyzing her experience onboard Carpe's cockpit. "I mean, I felt good there, but it's like that thing doesn't like me for some reason. It took a while to guess its functioning, and sometimes it seemed to do what it wanted, so… I don't know, it was my first time. Maybe I can understand it better later. 

"And you, Hazel?" 

The light blue haired girl took her time to reply. 

"Strange", she said, at last, with determination. "Really strange. That's not my place in the world, but I think it… oh, goodness, I'm going to say a complete nonsense!" 

"Nothing's a nonsense onboard those things", Warren stated, distantly. 

Hazel looked at him, confused. 

"Maybe you are right", she said, thoughtfully. "Well… it seemed that at a certain moment I… I liked it. I told you it was a nonsense thing, don't tell me anything…", she started defending herself, covering her opinions with that kind of shell. 

"It can be", Cage told her, trying to comfort her. "Between my previous OF and me happened something similar. It may happen!" 

"But that's too strange! They are just a big piece of junk that flies!", she complained, not wanting to believe that. 

"A quite powerful piece of junk that can fly and even destroy the entire galaxy if some situations are met", Mebius corrected her, frowning. 

Hazel stayed silent, and lowered her head, as if she wanted to end that argument. 

"I felt odd, that's all", she said, still with her head lowered. "Maybe someday I can learn to like it, if I'm staying here" 

"Now, on to a more trivial matter, how will you name your attacks?", Mebius asked them, while picking little Lia in her arms. She was quite 'possessive' towards her, because she looked for her as soon as she got into the Saoshyant. "Or they were displayed in the screen" 

Hazel smiled lightly, already knowing the answer. 

"That's Cynthia's stuff. She's the creative one" 

"Aye! That's me!", the brown haired girl chanted, giggling. "I'll bring a rough copy later, but those names will sure represent us! I have a gift for that" 

"A gift?", Cage asked, confused. 

"Aye. When I have to find a name for something, I don't stop until I find the proper name. Take as an example 'Carpe Diem', my OF's 'full name'. It stands for "enjoy the moment" in Latin or in some old tongue", she explained, proud of herself. "It's a shame that Hazel's not so convinced with her OF's name, but well… maybe I can come by with something more suitable. Like… _Ice Maiden_, perhaps?" 

Hazel didn't reply, although she heard her well, and acted as if nothing had happened. 

"Did you say anything?" 

"No", Cynthia replied, smiling – she already knew that Hazel wasn't angry but resigned. After all, she really harassed her cousin with her flaws… 

"Well, it's time to leave", Hazel said, picking her blue jean jacket, that she had dropped in a sofa before going into battle. 

"Right now? Can't we stay a bit more?" 

"Nope", she replied briefly, while putting her hair out of the jacket. "Or else your mother would get rather suspicious, with you tagging along me too much" 

Cynthia lowered her head, shyly. 

"Alright", she said. "See you soon, guys!" 

"Bye, everybody", Hazel greeted back, melancholic, while she was getting out of the room. 

The door closed, and the cousins were gone… 

"Those two are quite strange in some aspects, aren't they?", Semyl asked, sort of tired. 

"They have to be odd to join BIS, haven't they?", Yukito joked, grinning. 

"They seem like water and oil", Razma commented, laying down in the sofa, without repairs. 

"One's quite energetic while the other is really calm and taciturn…", Mebius analyzed, leaving Lia in one of the chairs. 

"Raging wind, calm sea?", Myona added, poetically. "Or stormy water, calm water" 

"Both sides of the same coin", Yukito said, grinning. "Active and passive" 

"Passive? If there's something that Hazel isn't is passive, although it seems the other way round", Myona said, disagreeing with him. "You should have seen her when she was at the Calibur the day that she recruited Cynthia. I almost end up in a street corner of how fast she was driving. And she wasn't that cold, then" 

"And why would she look that cold? Shyness?" 

"Protection" 

Everyone turned back to face Ares, who was the one who had said that last word. He was sitting in one of the chairs, not paying attention -apparently. 

"You mean that…", Semyl started saying, but she was interrupted by Ares. 

"She may be too shy, but that's not the only reason. She may have a really low self esteem, and that's why she's at the defensive all the time, and seems cold, in my opinion" 

"You can be quite right, now that you mention it", Robin congratulated him, thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought in that before" 

"He's quite right in that line of reasoning, but maybe it's not the answer. Who knows?", Warren said, looking at some point of the wall, after having stared at the little, half asleep Lia, until that moment. 

"Well, we, women, are a mystery", Mebius giggled, playing with her hair. 

"You are right", Yukito laughed. "I just wonder where's the key to that mystery. You are all a bunch of sphinxes!" 

If somebody had the opportunity to face Warren at that moment, it would have noticed that, without any repairs, he was staring at Mebius like a lost man… Fortunately for him, his sunglasses made the action a bit more unnoticeable, but not much… 

"I just don't want to guess it, for now", Razma stated, tired. 

"So you can jump from girl to girl like a bee does with flowers?!?", Semyl asked her, mischievously. "I think I have some bee venom over here…" 

"Ah! No!! Leave me, leave me!!!", he started begging, before she got to make the slightest move. 

"You guys will never stop, will you?", Myona asked, bursting into laughter. 

"Enough for today", Robin said, yawning. "It's time to finish our duties! Come on, let's get going and finish what you have to do, because I don't want to see anybody complaining because they have work to do on Sunday!" 

"Robin, you are no fun!" 

*** 

New chapter… seems an eternity since I finished last one (I wonder why?). Sorry if the battle scene sucked, and if something was quite unclear, tell me –I'm not writing this to get more reviews (am I not? =P), it's just that I wrote this in my little free time and I'm quite plagued by both Maths and Chemistry. It's a relief that I hadn't written that Bolzano's theorem stroke the function f(x)= 25x-10 and then Ruffini ruled -quite stupid, bad, terrible bad joke (especially in the Ruffini part), by the way =S, and yes, Maths' killing me!! Well, all for now, see you! 


	8. Uncomfortable situations

Chapter 8: "Uncomfortable situations" 

The main room of the Saoshyant was deserted, and that wasn't that odd for a week day, as the BIS members could be stuck in other issues other than waiting for some signal, as happened in the last few weeks. 

The door that led to the hangar opened, and from it came Robin and Twede, carrying some folders. A bit later came Warren, this time from his room. 

"Hi", he mumbled, quite sleepy. 

"Guess you have been sleeping, haven't you?", Robin giggled, looking at her comrade from over her papers. With Twede, they were doing their best to find something about Hazel's Labs, or that unknown group that was harassing them in the form of Ruth. And to make matters worse, there now were two unknown, 'borrowed' OFs, and another person from Ruth's group… As if they hadn't had enough. 

"Yeah", Warren nodded, sitting in a chair next to them. "I hadn't slept well last night…" 

"Wonder why?", she asked, now looking at her papers. No important data there, but some telephone numbers from Hazel comrades, and no one was useful. Either nonexistent or 'didn't belong to a client in service'. Bad luck. 

"I don't know…", he replied, thoughtfully. "What are you doing?", he asked then, trying to find an occupation for himself. 

"Trying to get some info for our mysteries… but we aren't going any further yet" 

"Twede hasn't found anything?", Warren asked, quite surprised. 

The mentioned guy rose an eyebrow. After all, he was considered the 'information guy', and couldn't stand being the blank of jokes in that aspect. He just did his job, so why would they torture him for doing it well… or in top form? 

"I still go on searching… I have no clues about the enemy group. About that girl's Labs… it could have been a 'ghost business'. They made everyone think they were a thing when they were another. Or maybe it was just her the tricked one in the factory, because nobody else from the Labs seems to be in Hellespontos, and she was the last one to join, apparently, and she barely knew her work mates". 

"It could be… that's why they run away as soon as we set them free, and why she was sort of trapped. If there had to be a hostage, or an 'war prisoner', it was better to send the newbie than the experienced ones", Warren analyzed, concentrated. "It doesn't seem that bad, and that unreal…" 

"It's a possibility… or she knows much more than what she accuses to know" 

Robin stayed thoughtful, while the two men made their hypothesis. Twede's distrusting attitude towards Hazel was something hard to believe or to even understand, for her. He never had that low opinion of anybody, but he seemed to dislike the blue haired youth with all his soul, for some unknown reason. 

"Why do you keep on thinking that she's dangerous?", she asked him, leaving her papers on the table. "I don't see anything wrong with her" 

"I don't know, either", the black clad secretary admitted, seriously. "It's just a feeling…" 

"Hi, everyone!", Mebius greeted, interrupting their 'information guy'. She came from outside with Lia, after having a long walk and playing a bit at the park. 

"Hi, Mebus", Robin greeted back, staring at the little Lia, who was leaving her little coat in a chair. "Did you have a good time?" 

"Wonderful. The weather is really nice outside", Mebius replied, sitting in an empty chair and telling Lia to do so in her lap. "Hey, what happened that we are few people now? Where are the others?", she asked, looking around, surprised of the calm atmosphere inside the Saoshyant. 

"Razma, Semyl, Cage and Myona went to the orphanage, Yukito had to see his father for some reason, Ares' also out, and Hazel and Cynthia hadn't appeared since Saturday, after the last attack", Robin reported, cheerfully. "Hazel called and said that maybe they would come later today or tomorrow, if you want to know" 

"And what were you doing now?" 

"Trying to get some interesting info", the light haired woman replied. "We were trying to know why Twede doesn't like Hazel" 

"Still thinking she's an emissary of the devil, uh?", the blonde haired woman asked, ironically. "When will you realize that she's not someone that would betray us?" 

"I don't know", Twede sighed, tired of that attitude towards him. It seemed he hadn't the right to have his own opinion. "At least, soon I'll see if I'm in the right or not", he said, handing to them a small shinning thing, which ended up being Hazel's driving license. It was a small, yellow plastic card, with her most important data and her photo. 

Mebius frowned. 

"You've been looking in her things, Twede?", she asked the obvious question, disapproving his manners. "When will you learn to stop doing that?" 

"She may be mad looking for it", Robin suggested, annoyed. 

"It was laying at the hangar floor", Twede defended himself, sick of the two ladies 'attacks'. "I did nothing wrong. It's not my fault if she lost it" 

"And what will you do with that?", Warren asked, finally. Since Mebius came with Lia, he was like lost in the scene, playing with the little girl, who seemed to unknown the meaning of sadness or tears… A nice twist of fate for someone who could have ended all alone in the world… 

"He's right", Mebius approved, without noticing that she made Waren blush, although he could hide it well with his sunglasses, that he wouldn't take off, even for sleeping. "That won't help you much to look for some 'incriminatory' info…" 

"You don't know what I can do with less data than this one", Twede replied, challenging. "Just wait and see. I'll came by with something…" 

"Alright!", Robin made him shut up, annoyed. "I'm sick of this hypothetical chat! Let's try to find another interesting topic" 

"How are you doing with the other beam manipulators?", Mebius asked, saying the first thing that came through her mind. 

Robin smiled lightly. 

"Well… we'll have them soon, I hope. Anyway, I have to go today to the Labs, a bit later. It's too bad that now I have to ask for two more, because we hadn't included the new OFs…" 

"Tempus Fugit and Carpe… something?" 

"'Carpe for the friends', as Cynthia says", Robin corrected, shrugging. "I don't know how that lass could come by with those names…" 

"We'll just have to wait and see how she names their weapons and attack", Warren added, lively. "I'm sure they'll be something odd, only understandable for her" 

"You bet", Twede said, as impersonal as a statue. 

*** 

"Hey, where had they gone? Alaska?", Razma asked impatiently, walking along the orphanage's yard. 

The small group had just arrived to the orphanage to pay Jojo, Gilbert and Pauly a short visit. It was the always postponed thing, and now that they could arrange their timetables to visit the kids… they were gone. 

"Hey, we have just arrived!", Semyl told him, laying on the ground with her arms crossed under her head. "They are sure coming from school or from somewhere else…" 

"Yeah, whatever you want, but we have little time", the red haired youth complained, still walking. 

"How do they look now?", Myona asked, trying to find a topic to relax Razma. 

"Oh, they haven't changed much", Semyl replied, cheerfully as ever. "Well, I can say that because I see them every week, but they are quite big, and going through their 'teenage process', so sometimes they are quite hilarious when they are together. 

"Yeah. Cage, don't flatter neither Semyl or Jojo or he'll just wait you outside the orphanage to 'finish some issues'", Razma added, not very excited. "The boy has some strength, I tell you" 

Myona laughed, but Cage looked confused. If Jojo still remembered that silly promise, he was going to be in a big trouble, according to Razma… 

"Hey, there they come!", Razma announced, ending his never-ending walk. 

Right through the door, the three kids came to the yard, where the BIS members were. They hadn't changed much, they were just a little taller. 

"Ahh!!! You are back!", Jojo greeted back, hugging Myona and Cage tightly. "Finally! It's good to say you again!" 

"Hi", Pauly greeted, still carrying his crucifix with him. His beliefs hadn't changed in the last year and a half. 

"Hello", Gilbert greeted last, glaring at Cage, for some unknown reason. 

Cage noticed that and shivered, but tried to look as if he hadn't noticed the blue haired boy's glare. 

"Hey, won't you greet us?", Semyl asked her children iroically. "We were the ones that brought them back, after all…" 

"Ah, thanks Semy!!", Jojo replied, hugging her 'sister'. She was as cheerful and affectionate as she had ever been. 

"Well, guys, how have you been?", Cage asked, trying to forget Gilbert's glare. He hadn't expected the boy to react like that. Now he was even more afraid of that promise with Jojo. 

"Fine… thanks", Pauly replied courteously. 

"Cage, do you remember about that promise, don't you?", Jojo asked him, with a big, broad smile. 

Hell was about to break in a few minutes time… 

"Which promise?", Cage asked awkwardly. From the corner of his right eye, he could see Myona's disapproval… 

"Oh, you are playing that you had forgotten!", Jojo 'counterattacked', giggling. "We are going to get married when I'm a little older!" 

"A… are we?", Cage asked, even more awkward than before. He was already sweating… 

"Jojo… Cage's with Myona right now", Semyl tried to explain the girl, but she was interrupted. 

"Now, but then? Who knows?" 

Myona and Cage looked at each other, puzzled. 

"Yes! I have to be only 18, which is in five years time, unless our tutor gives me permission… mh… that sounds better", the girl started thinking, planning her future wedding under everyone's puzzled sight. 

"We would just have to wait Pauly to become a priest…", she added, making some counts. "Aren't you anxious, Cage?" 

"And what about me?", Gilbert asked, a bit shyly, as she was forgetting about him. 

"You… you are invited, of course! I don't know if you could become a witness, Semy's already one… I don't know, there's enough time to think about it!" 

"Mars, swallow me", Cage thought bitterly, with his eyes wide shut, and sweating as if he were under big pressure. 

"Jojo… you have to understand that maybe they won't break up… they really love each other…", Semyl tried to explain the excited girl. 

"He's not like Razma", Gilbert commented, taking revenge for some unknown or forgotten event. 

"Hey, what's with that, you little brat!", Razma complained all of a sudden, really annoyed. 

"Violence is bad…", Pauly mumbled, trying to separate them.  
"Hahaha… it was a joke!", Jojo burst into laughter, right in front of them. 

"Re… really?", Cage asked her, now much more relieved. 

"Ah!", Semyl exclaimed, puzzled. "Where had you learnt that?" 

"Drama classes at school" 

"You are quite a good actress…", Myona said, smiling. She had lost a worry… although Cage was much more relieved. 

"Jojo, lying is also bad…" 

"I was just playing a role, Pauly. I haven't sinned, I guess" 

"You sure scared us with that determination you seemed to have", Razma added, trying to stop Gilbert from punching him in his stomach again. 

They stayed a little longer, until one of the orphanage tutors came, and tell them that the kids had to return inside and do their homework. 

*** 

"Hazel?", Cynthia called her light haired cousin, while dropping in a bin the rests of her ice cream. 

"What?", Hazel replied, looking at both sides of the avenue before walking through it. She had picked her cousin up from the school, and they spent some time chatting at a fast food restaurant, and now they were in their way to either a coffee or a park, somewhere where they could chat comfortable and without caring if somebody known was behind or near them. 

"Don't you live in the Gemini sector?" 

Hazel delayed her answer. 

"Yes", she just replied, coldly. 

"Hazel, what are you going to do now?!?" 

Hazel looked in the opposite direction, trying to avoid her younger cousin's worried face. The Gemini sector was the area where the last battle took place, and it was quite messy right now. It was an apartment buildings neighborhood, and it got some damage during the battle. Nothing important, but all the consortiums decided to evacuate their people until the buildings were repaired. Some had many broken windows, other got their water supplies broken or damaged, others had many or little fissures in their walls, and the list could go on. Cynthia wouldn't have been that concern about that if it wasn't that her cousin lived there. 

"Won't you reply to me?", she asked Hazel annoyed. 

"You don't have to worry about me. I'll find something", Hazel replied, trying to sound confident and secure, although she had been thinking about her accommodation since before they went to the Gemini sector to face the unknown group. 

"Always trying to show that 'aura' of self-sufficiency, Hazel", Cynthia nagged her, ironically. "When were you going to talk about that? Where are you going to sleep? Evacuation began today, hasn't it?" 

"Cynthia, I told you! You don't have to worry. I'll find something", Hazel repeated, annoyed. "And I'm not self-sufficient! It's just that don't need help with this…" 

"And with anything else, according to some harsh attitudes you have towards the entire world from time to time!" 

"Are we here to analyze me?", Hazel rose an eyebrow, tired of her cousin remarks towards her personality. "If it's like this, I get up and leave, and you don't find me 'till we are reunited in some geriatric home, with some luck" 

"Rather funny", Cynthia frowned, faking her voice. "In that case, you would end up in a public home while I would end dying in a five stars resort, considering my mother's habits; she'll state it and already pay for it in her will", she parodied, making fun of her over-protective mother to cheer Hazel up. She succeeded in a little way, as Hazel just smiled lightly, and then she said, worried, "Hazel, I know I may seem a stupid psychologist apprentice, but it's just to help you. I can't think of you sleeping in a park bench, just because you are too proud or whatever to ask for help…" 

"What a concept you have of me", Hazel said, acting offended. "I wasn't going to reach that extent. I have some money saved, so I thought in living in some hostel or something like that…" 

"'Till when? You aren't rich, you know…" 

"Thanks to return me to reality", Hazel complained ironically. "I don't plan to remain unemployed for the rest of my life! If only I had some contact somewhere… Damn unknown group that attacked the Labs! At least I had a wage at the end of the month…" 

Hazel's voice showed some bitterness and sorrow that Cynthia wasn't used to see in her cousin, or at least didn't want to see again in her. It really hurt her seeing Hazel like that, almost giving up everything, yet trying to help herself without anyone's help. She couldn't understand how someone like her cousin couldn't understand that she couldn't do everything alone, that in some situations help was needed… 

She had to do something about it. She grabbed Hazel's hand and got up from the bench, saying, seriously and with determination, 

"Come on, let's go home" 

Hazel's eyes widened, product of the surprise. 

"Which… home?", she asked, without understanding what she was talking about… or already knowing it too well. 

"My home, which one else?!?", Cynthia exclaimed, annoyed by her cousin's 'incredulity'. "Don't tell me you are going to refuse?" 

"Yes!", Hazel exclaimed, sort of challenging. "Don't misunderstand me, I'm really proud and honored that you want to help me, but… there are some obstacles" 

"You mean my mom, uh?" 

Hazel nodded. 

"Leave that to me. I'll try to convince her, at least until you find some place to sleep until your building is repaired" 

"Cynt… I…", Hazel tried to thank her, but couldn't find the words. 

"You don't have to say anything", Cynthia smiled broadly, already walking her way to her home, which wasn't that far from the park where they were staying. "Now tell me, did your apartment ended up that badly?" 

Hazel laughed briefly, closing her eyes as she did so, turning into a different person each time she laugh. She was always quite serious and shy, always being at the defensive, but when she laughed… she seemed really different, like a cheerful, outgoing youth. Cynthia always felt better when she saw her cousin laugh, or even smile… 

"Well… a Raptor ended up grooved at the wall of the building, so you can figure… My apartment isn't that bad. There's a fissure in the wall, though" 

"Goodness! And what will you do with your things?" 

"I left my biggest things, like my closet or my kitchen table, at the building's garage, as they told us to do. I was thinking in finding a place to live and then move a few things, obviously my clothes and some other minor things. I really thank the fact that I don't have a last model hi-fi system, but my little, faithful old tape player and recorder", Hazel explained, giggling after she finished her 'account'. 

"You still have that?", Cynthia asked her surprised and raising an eyebrow. "I thought that thing died a long time ago…" 

"Well, it almost did, but I could repair it with Dad's help… or the other way round, I help Dad to mend it…", Hazel said, becoming silent again after that. 

"I see… ", Cynthia said, thoughtful. But she didn't stay like that for much time. "Hey! Don't worry! You'll bring your things soon! I'm sure of that!" 

Hazel looked at her as they were walking the final block to Cynthia's house. "Are you really sure?" 

"Why not? You are my cousin, not a stranger" 

"I think my aunt doesn't think that way…" 

"Stop worrying about that", Cynthia told her, opening the door to her house and telling Hazel to come in. "Wait here, I'm going to pick some drinks", she told her, while closing the door and leaving her things in one of the nice sofas scattered all around the living-room. 

"Alright. The bathroom?", Hazel asked, doing the same with her things. 

"Oh, there, at your right", Cynthia guided her, pointing to a door in that direction. 

As Hazel went to the bathroom, Cynthia walked to the kitchen. She went to the fridge and picked some colas, but then she stood still, as she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. She would be able to talk to his mother sooner than what she expected. 

"Finally! You have arrived!", her mother's voice greeted her from the kitchen's door, although she wasn't as friendly as she would have wanted her to be. 

Cynthia turned back, and found her mother, Jane, standing just past the kitchen door. She was a medium-height, short, dark brown hair woman. She had to be in her early forties, but she was quite 'produced', even for staying at home. Cynthia really hated that. In her own opinion, it had to be a negative reaction to her mother's lifestyle, she really wanted her to stop wearing make-up at every moment of her life. Apart from that, Cynthia could tell that her mother wasn't in the best of moods, so she had to be careful to introduce Hazel's topic. 

"Hi, Mom", Cynthia greeted back. "How have you been?" 

"I should ask you that", her mother told her back, obviously annoyed. "Where have you been?" 

"I told you before I left for school that Hazel was going to pick me up from there, Mom. Like we do every now and then, you know", Cynthia explained, surprised that her mother wouldn't remember that. "Talking about Hazel, she has a little problem. Can she stay with us for some days? I'll explain you better later…", she added, acting as if everything was normal, which it wasn't the case… 

"You have to be joking!", her mother replied, angrily and coldly. "Don't even think about it, you little daughter!" 

"Mom?", Cynthia asked her, really puzzled by her mother's reaction. For some unknown reason, she never had a good relation with Hazel in the last few years, but her reaction was even further from her comprehension. 

"What? I said 'no' and it's 'no'" 

"I always knew you were quite supportive towards me, but I hadn't thought that you would reach that extent, auntie Jannie", Hazel's cold, challenging voice came from behind her. 

Both mother and daughter turned back to face Hazel. The light blue haired girl was standing there, next to the door, looking at them with her big grey eyes filled with sadness, although her overall expression was a mix of anger and worry. 

"Oh, great!", Jane exclaimed, even more annoyed. "Why hadn't you told me that she was here?!?", she asked her daughter, at the verge of an attack of hysteria. 

"You didn't give me the chance", Cynthia replied, annoyed. 

"I told you this wouldn't work, Cynthia", Hazel replied, trying to look confident and angry. "I'm leaving…", she added, turning back to the corridor to pick her things and leave that tidy home. 

"Wait, Hazel!", Cynthia called her, whining. She looked at her mother annoyed and asked her, "Why do you don't want her here? She's not a criminal!" 

Cynthia's mother made a fake laugh. 

"She's not a criminal, you say?", she replied, ironically. "Come here, Hazel, you are not going anyone until we resolve this matter!" 

Hazel stood where she was and turned back. 

"What? You are feeling guilty now, auntie?" 

"Keep your mouth shut and come!", she ordered her, violently. 

If it wasn't that she could get Cynthia into worse trouble, Hazel would have said some 'not so good or polite' things to her aunt about her modals, but instead she walked to the kitchen, again. 

"You say your cousin's not a criminal, uh?", Jane asked, ironically again, to her daughter. 

"Mother, had you eaten something out of date, or you ate one of your miraculous creams?!?", her daughter replied her, making reference to those beauty creams her mother used, highly angry with her. "Of course she's not a criminal, for God's sake!!" 

"Aunt, I know you never liked me, but what do you mean by that?", Hazel asked, speaking slowly, as if she had enough time to understand what her aunt was talking about. 

"Don't misunderstand me, Hazel", Jane started speaking softly, but still coldly. "I don't hate you as you think…" 

"Then, you hide it too well…" 

"As I was saying", Jane re-started, trying to remain calm after Hazel's 'impertinent interruption'; "I don't hate you. But you are driving my daughter into something quite dangerous. If you want to screw up your life, go ahead, but don't take my daughter with you in the process". Her voice was now serene, and she hadn't made any kind of sign when she spoke a bit more 'slang', thing that surprised the cousins, as Jane used to speak more politely and distinguished. 

"Just what do you mean, aunt?", Hazel asked her aunt. Her eyes were wide opened due to the surprise. 

"Oh, come on! Stop playing the idiot!", Jane 'exploded', as angry as when they started quarreling. "If you want to be a terrorist, do it alone, not with Cynthia! I won't let her join that… oh, how hell is it called? BIS! That is!" 

Hazel's head move automatically to Cynthia's side, just to find Cynthia open-mouthed and shivering from the surprise she got. Who on Mars told her mother about BIS? She hadn't left any clue anywhere… 

"How… did you get to know that, Mother?", Cynthia managed to speak, at last, as if it were a mumble. 

Jane looked at her, trying to remain calm. "Meredy called and asked for you earlier, and I asked her if you were in something strange. You've been always been what the others would call a 'weird gal', and you've been tagging along this person" –she pointed at Hazel, who was both angry and ashamed at the same time, while she said that- "lately, so I thought something was wrong with you. She didn't want to talk much at first, but then… she just mentioned that you told her that the BIS members and your cousin were the ones that rescued you during the school attack, so I figured that you would be involved in that…" 

"That idiot… she'll never changed", the student mumbled, really angered. She stood still, thinking in how idiot she was for having trust in her companion, the one that was sitting at her side the day the school got under attack, the day she got to meet the BIS members. Only an idiot like her would have trusted in an already spoiled girl… 

"Cynthia…", Hazel said, after letting go a long, deep sigh. "You were supposed to not say a word to anybody…" 

"Ah, so you admit it!", Jane cried, but couldn't go forward, because Hazel interrupted her again. 

"I have nothing to hide, although I won't go through the streets shouting it. But I tried my best to prevent her from joining, but it was futile. I did whatever I could…" 

"And it wasn't much!", her aunt cried, again. "You should be ashamed of yourself! You can't even go through your own life, and you wanted to take my daughter with you, isn't it? That's why you saved her that day!" 

"It wasn't like that!", Hazel yelled, angrily. Her patience had already surpassed her limit. "If I helped her to escape that day, is because I worry for her, but I'm really regretting it now…", she said, turning back and determined to get out from that house as soon as she could. "Good bye" 

"Farewell!", Jane replied, leaving in clear that she didn't want to see her anymore for the rest of her life. 

Hazel stood still, like frozen. She tightened her fists, and closed her eyes wide shut, as if she were trying to stop some tears. Loneliness, rejection, solitude, lack of love… all together striking a poor, already tormented soul… 

"Hazel?", Cynthia whined, trying to stop her tears. The fact that she got her cousin in a great trouble made her feel guilty at the extent of crying like a little child… 

"Farewell, then", Hazel replied, coldly and impersonal, as she started walking again. 

"No, Hazel, wait!", Cynthia called, but Hazel got through the front door as if she were deaf. "No, wait!", she cried again, before Hazel closed it, slamming it. She got up fast, and went out of the kitchen. 

"Where do you think you are going?!?", Jane inquired her, trying to sound menacingly so her daughter would respect her. 

"I'm going after her!" 

"You aren't going anywhere! It's going to get dark soon!" 

"I care nothing!", Cynthia replied, also slamming the front door and running towards Hazel, while her mother stayed in the kitchen, open-mouthed. 

*** 

Somewhere else, within Hellespontos… 

"I hope that now that the siblings are together there won't be any more faults…", a shoulder length, green haired man said. 

Ruth lowered her head, but just for a brief second. Then she rose it again to face Marrek Pith, her superior, and the one who was speaking. It was something that seemed to calm her, the figure of that middle twenties year old man, even if he was telling her that she was a failure. 

"I just want you to know that this situation was something that my sister alone couldn't handle by herself…", a light brown haired man, who was standing next to Ruth, replied, coldly. 

"Ethan, stop it!", Ruth told the man standing next to her. "If I had though it better I could have accomplished it by myself" 

"What? You would have went to all those places at the same time? You know no human being can do that!", Ethan, her twin brother, replied sarcastically. 

"Enough with it!", Marrek yelled, annoyed by some other problem, apart from this one. "I don't want to hear you discussing stupid things! Now that you are together again, you'll start thinking in some good strategy. We have to get rid of those happy-go-lucky parasites!!" 

"We'll do our best!", Ruth replied firmly, and a bit coldly. 

"I hope so", Marrek said, looking at her from tip to toe. "You know that I expected more from yourself alone…" 

Ruth lowered her head for the second time, thinking ashamed for having disappointed her superior. Instead, Ethan was glaring at him. He had never like his green haired superior, and he liked even less how he treated his sister… 

"We'll do our best!", Ruth repeated, raising her head again, showing determination. 

"Just to know, will we ever put our hands on those promised things?", Ethan asked, indifferent. 

"In a short time. If that will help you to finish them off, then I'll try to get them as soon as possible", Marrek said, before leaving the room. 

Ruth stayed there, looking at the closed door from where Marrek had left. 

"You still think in that idiot, uh?", Ethan asked his sister, who wasn't feeling that confident as when Marrek was around. 

"Don't call him like that… he's right after all", Ruth said, weakly. 

"You may have trust too much in yourself, but that doesn't allow him to repeat it every now and then to make you feel like a worm!", Ethan complained, walking along a corridor, leading to the exit. 

"Oh, brother! You speak as if you didn't know anything about he military!", Ruth exclaimed, strange by her brother's line of thinking. "Do you now think that he will now congratulate me if I do things wrong? Never in the life! And less at this stage!" 

"I know the military, sis, but you are a human being after all", Ethan explained calmly. "See? Now you seem a complete different person that when you are near him" 

Ruth blushed and lowered her head. 

"Are you going to spoil yourself to be near him? Are you going to turn into a monster to be at the same level he is?", he asked her, saddened. 

"I…", Ruth doubted, but just for a small second. "I can't be weak! I've come this far, so I can't be weak! I have to demonstrate that, also!" 

"By trying to look just as a big block of ice with legs, without caring about anything or anyone? There wouldn't be much difference between an android and you in that case", Ethan asked her, directly. 

"Brother, are you sure you hadn't any accident while you were gone?", Ruth asked him, worried. Her brother always looked much for her, but he seemed too worried now, and that disturbed her. 

"Nothing wrong has happened, Ruth", he said, embracing her. "It's just that I want to protect you from that sort of people. I don't want you to become like them" 

"But you have to know, Ethan, that we can't be who we really are whenever we want…" 

"But once you start acting, your own personality changes…" 

Ruth looked at him, puzzled. 

"Have you been going too much to a psychologist while you were gone? You are speaking too much like one" 

Ethan laughed, and embraced his twin. 

"Not at all. Guess I'm having more 'common sense' lately" 

"I would like you didn't think that much about those things. You should really stop worrying about me. I'm old enough to look after myself and to decide what's good or wrong for me" 

Ethan stopped walking and faced her. 

"Are you kidding me? You want me to stop worrying about you? We've been together all our lives, and much more since our parents died, and you want me to act as if I didn't know you? We even got in the same business so we could just be together!" 

Ruth blushed, and made him signs to speak softer. 

"Stop with that!", she told him, angrily. "Do you want everyone to know about our whole lives?!? I don't! And stop thinking in the past, it's already gone… People changes through time, brother..." 

"I just hope you won't turn into a monster, Ruth", her brother told her, moving his head from a side to the other, showing that he was resigned. "I would really like you to stay as you were before all this…" 

Ruth didn't say a word, and went on walking through the corridor… 

*** 

"Hazel, I'm so sorry!!", Cynthia apologized, as much as she could, trying to stop sobbing. 

The two cousins were now siting at a park bench, looking at the sky, which was turning darker and darker as the minutes went by. Soon, Cynthia would have to return to her home, and to face her mother and with some bad luck, his father also. She was just hoping that he would have too much work so he wouldn't be able to return home soon, and he wouldn't have the chance to listen to her mother's side of the story, which was going to be too exaggerated and unreal. 

Hazel, on the other hand, would have to either return to her home and sleep in her almost cracked apartment and find another place to live early on the morning, or she could try to get a room in some rusty, low quality hotel, at least for that night. With that perspective, she really wanted to sleep at the park… so she just stayed there, laying on the bench, staring at the soon starry sky. 

"Stop saying that, Cynthia", Hazel just said, distantly. "You've been apologizing since you left your house" 

"I know!", her brown haired cousin sobbed, depressed. "It's all my fault!" 

"Stop blaming yourself, Cynt. She wasn't going to let me in even if I didn't do anything wrong" 

Hazel's voice was so calm and without any hint of hate, that surprised Cynthia to no extent. It seemed as if Cynthia was much more worried than Hazel, who was the one in big trouble. 

"Hazel, aren't you worried?" 

Hazel rose her head, and stared at Cynthia. 

"Yes", she replied, now saddened. "I'm really worried" 

"You don't look that worried. How do you manage to look like there's no problem?" 

Hazel smiled lightly, as if she were proud of that skill. 

"Guess that I'm already resigned to whatever happens to me or not" 

"Stoicism?", Cynthia asked, drying up her tears and trying to smile. 

"Something like that", Hazel replied, returning to the bench and laughing briefly. 

They stood some moments silent, just interrupted by Cynthia's sobs, who was just in despair for her cousin's fate. 

"Hazel, Cynthia?", a familiar voice called, surprised. 

Cynthia turned back, quickly. 

"Robin? What are you doing here?" 

Hazel got up from the bench, and greeted the BIS leader. 

"I was returning from NUT's Labs. What are you doing here? What happened?", Robin asked them worried, sitting next to them. 

Cynthia told her briefly about Hazel's problem and about her mother's reaction. Hazel just stared at them, as if what Cynthia was talking about happened to someone else. 

"Too bad", Robin said, after hearing everything from the brown haired youth. "That's why you've been so strange at the last encounter?" 

Hazel nodded. 

"And what are you going to do now, Hazel?" 

"I think I'll sleep at home tonight, and then I'll start looking for another apartment or a hotel, until mine's repaired" 

"And why don't you came with us to the Saoshyant?" 

Hazel's eyes widened by the surprise, thing that caught Robin's attention. 

"Really…?" 

"Come on, Hazel! That was what you were needing!", Cynthia encouraged her, dropping her tissue handkerchief. "Say yes!" 

"There's no problem with that, or I wouldn't have told you" 

Hazel stayed silent, and dried up a small tear that was running across her cheek. 

"I guess that… alright", she accepted, smiling while two more inopportune tears got out from her eyes. 

"What is it now, Hazel?", Robin asked her worried, seeing that the light blue haired girl was about to burst into tears. "Aren't you feeling well?" 

"I'm alright", Hazel smiled, not crying anymore. "It's just that… it's been a while since someone accepted me that fast" 

Robin looked at Cynthia's side, who nodded. She didn't understand much of what was going on, but she was going to help, anyway. 

"Don't get that sad", she told her, calmly. "Everything's gonna be alright. Let's go to the Saoshyant…" 

"Could I go to my apartment first? So I could grab some things before 'moving' to that place…" 

Robin giggled.  
"Of course you can. Come on, let's go so we can return sooner", she said getting up from the bench and looking at the even darker sky. 

*** 

Nobody objected Hazel's living at the BIS hideout, moreover, the younger crowd seemed pleased to have a new comrade aboard, thing that made Hazel feel better and strange with herself at the same time. Anyway, she left in clear that she would just stay until she could find another place or her home was repaired. Luckily for everyone, there was a small room left, so she didn't end up sleeping at the main room, with all the mess that fact meant. 

It was quite late that night, and Ares was the only left at the main room. The light haired youth was resting, sitting next to the table, thoughtfully. He was staring at his notebook computer, and was listening to that slow, calm melody he knew too well and that meant opposites sides of a coin for him. He closed his eyes. His life had been marked by that melody, there was no doubt of that in his own opinion, and yet… he still enjoyed listening to it. That piano ballad, it was both painful and hopeful to hear… 

Suddenly, he heard another sound, which wasn't from the ballad. He turned back, and found Hazl next to the door, looking at his direction. She was wearing a pair of light grey jogging trousers, and a dark blue t-shirt. Her hair was tied up in a low ponytail. 

"What are you doing here?", he asked her, a bit coldly. He hadn't expected something like that, and she caught him by surprise. 

"I was just looking for the bathroom", she said, shyly. "I didn't want to disturb you…", she apologized, walking to his direction. 

The melody had just finished playing, and Ares was about to close his notebook and return to his room, from where he shouldn't have left, according to himself. He was feeling quite shameful for having been caught. 

"No… wait", she asked him, fearful of annoying him, sitting in a chair next to his. "It's a lovely melody… Could you play it once more, please?" 

Ares was even more surprised than when she saw her standing next to the door. Without saying a word, he opened the small portable computer, and played the music file again. 

"It's gorgeous…", Hazel said, while paying attention to the piano melody. 

"Do you think you've heard it before?", he asked, then. An idea, a not so crazy, but not too real idea stroke his mind. 

"Not at all", the light haired girl replied, fascinated by the music. "It transmits peace, hope, feelings like that…" 

"Yes…" 

"Did you composed it?" 

Ares laughed one time. 

"No… I just copied it. An old friend of mine wrote it…" 

"He sure knew how to speak about so many feelings together through music". Hazel's eyes were shinning differently as when he saw them in other opportunities. Her head was leaning down over her crossed arms, and all she was paying attention to was the music. 

"How is it called?", she asked all of a sudden, after staying silent for some moments. 

"'Promise of Reunion'", Ares answered, a bit more relaxed but still coldly. 

"The name suits it, in my opinion", she said, with a hint of sorrow. "Are you waiting for someone?" 

Hazel's sudden change of attitude surprised Ares even more. 

"Why do you ask that?", he asked, at the defensive. 

"Well, your eyes… they have some lonely expression… you also match with the song", she replied, sincerely. 

"Well, you don't look much different", he told her, as if he could take some kind of revenge with that comment. 

"I know", Hazel replied, and stayed silent, puzzling him even more. "Goodness! I knew I disturbed you! I'm so sorry", she apologized, getting up quickly after looking at Ares, who was staring at her serious. "I didn't want to…" 

"But what's the matter?", he asked her, surprised of that reaction, as he hadn't said a word. 

"I bothered you… Where's the bathroom?" 

"Through the corridor, the furthest door to your left", he said pointing to the door next to Hazel. 

"I… thanks", she said, nervously, and left the room quickly. 

Ares stayed in the main room thoughtfully, and played the song once more… 


	9. Fortune's wheel

Chapter 9: "Fortune's wheel"

"Ares!!! Hey, wait, Ares!!", Cage's voice was calling the light haired youth, who was walking along one of the Saoshyant's corridors.

"Hey, what's the matter?", he asked, puzzled by Cage's hurry.

"I have to ask you a favor, a big one", the blue haired boy asked his friend, breathing heavily. He wasn't that used to run, even if he was a youth in good health.

"What is it?"

"Well… I invited Myona to that new amusement park. We are going this Saturday. It was supposed to be a 'date', but she invited Hazel, so she can help her to get out from her 'shell'. Or so she thinks. So… I need someone else…", Cage explained, still tured from the run.

"You've got to be kidding me!", Ares exclaimed, sort of scandalized. That wasn't his idea of a date, and he hadn't thinking in having one yet… "It's not that I hate the gal, but… it's nonsense!"

"Please, Ares! Think in how bad Hazel would feel if she goes just with us!"

"Why don't you ask one of the girls? Why don't you tell Semyl, or her own cousin?"

"Come on! It wouldn't make sense! I would be the odd one out there!"

"Mebius?"

"We don't need a babysitter. Besides, she would bring Lia, and that wouldn't be a suitable place for her, because she wouldn't be able to get in any game, if it weren't for the small playground they have there"

"Razma?"

"He's with Semyl… and we would get him into even more trouble than he is with her, if she ever knows that he went out with Hazel! She can't forgive him that attempt of CPR yet, you know…", he said, smiling as he remembered the story about how they found Hazel.

"Yukito?"

"He already has plans for the weekend, and if he hadn't, he would start chasing hot girls and would leave her all alone"

"Twede?", Ares asked, almost in despair, as he proposed him…

Cage laughed hard. "Are you serious? He can't stand her, for some reason, and you know it well!"

"Warren?"

"C'mon on! He wouldn't go. Besides, he's not her style…"

"Am I her style?", Ares asked, raising an eyebrow and extremely puzzled.

"I don't know… maybe it works!", Cage exclaimed, shrugging.

Ares looked at both sides of the corridor, as if he could think in someone else, but he knew there was no other alternative than him. He would have to accept, after all. He didn't dislike her, but… he didn't feel it was the best way to go out with someone, it seemed like a forced date. On the other hand, Cage was his friend, so he should give him a hand.

"Alright", he said, resigned. "I'll go…"

"Great! You saved my life!!", Cage said, hugging his friend hard and affectionately.

"Stop it, or you'll make me run short of oxygen", Ares complained, trying to get rid of the excited boy. "I still have some breathing problems, you know..."

"Always that harsh, Ares", Cage joked, grinning. "You'll have to polish that aspect if you want to get a girl", he said, walking to the door to leave the corridor.

"What? Are you playing Cupid?", Ares joked, ironically. He wasn't that happy for that situation Cage got him into.

"Who knows?", Cage said, and left the corridor.

* * *

Saturday morning came, and Myona, Cage and Ares were waiting for Hazel to show up. She said she had to see her cousin first, but that she would be at the accorded time at the park's entrance.

"Why isn't she coming?", Myona asked anxiously, after checking her watch for the third time in less than five minutes. She wasn't feeling very comfortable with her brother around, as she was afraid he would start making comments or asking things about her relationship with Cage, or that he would start complaining about the idea of inviting him to befriend Hazel.

"Hey, calm down, sis", Ares told her, calmly. "You are getting a little nervous, aren't you?"

"Why do you say that?", she asked. "Is it too obvious?"

"There she comes", Cage said, waving his hand so Hazel could find them.

"Hi", she said, still far from them, trying to make her way. She was wearing a dark blue skirt with some little white flowers, and a white t-shirt. She was wearing a black knee length woolen coat above that.

"Hi", the others greeted her, as soon as she arrived.

Hazel stayed silent for a while, looking at them without saying a word. The others were kind of puzzled at her, as they couldn't tell if she was happy or irritated at their idea.

"You shouldn't have told me to come if this was going to be a single date", she said, finally. There was no hint of anger in her voice, but regret.

Cage and Myona looked at each other, nervously, while Ares shrugged, before glaring at Cage.

"No… it wasn't like that from the very beginning…", Myona started talking, trying to come up with a nice excuse. "It's just that… well, Cage also invited Ares, and the rest had another plans for today…"

"She's right", Cage said, trying to hide his blushing.

"Yeah, yeah, alright", Hazel said, not believing a single word of what Myona had said.

"Let's get into there", Ares said, pointing to the queue that was waiting for paying their entrance fee. He was also trying to change the chat's topic…

They had to wait some time to get their tickets. Cage paid both his and Myona's ticket, and Ares tired to do the same with Hazel, as a proof of kindness, but as he was looking for his wallet, he was stopped by her.

"You've got to be kidding", she said, somewhat coldly, while she paid her ticket with a hand, and stopped him with the other. "You are not my boyfriend, so forget about it"

"I just tired to be nice…", he apologized, puzzled.

"Find another way. This one's not the correct one", she said, looking at him in the eyes, before joining Cage and Myona, who were watching the whole scene as confused as Ares.

"Seems you found a tough lass, buddy", the ticket guy winked at Ares, while taking his money.

"Oh, shut up!", Ares replied harshly, coming back from his thoughts.

"Ok, ok. You don't have to argue with me if you have problems with her", the ticket guy replied, giving Ares his pass.

Ares took a deep breath, and joined the others. It was an odd sight, going out with his best friend, who was his sister's boyfriend, and an unknown girl who seemed to be always at the defensive, for no apparent reason. Myona was really nervous, evidently, she wasn't enjoying his presence there. Not that she hated him, but it was a bit uncomfortable to go out with her boyfriend, and her brother at the same time.

"Any problem?", Cage asked, embracing Myona sweetly.

"Not at all", Ares replied, leaving his pass in one of his trousers pockets, and looking at the 'loving couple' as he did so, making Myona blush.

"Hey, 'merry ones', don't start getting too loving in front of the poor ones", Hazel joked, giggling. She had noticed Myona's behavior, and tried to say something to drive the attention off the couple.

"Guess you are right", Cage admitted, puzzled. "Well, where are we going first?"

"Ouh! Look! Spinning teacups!", Myona exclaimed excited, pointing at the attraction. "Let's go there, I always wanted to get into those!"

"I would rather not…", Ares said, feeling already dizzy by just watching at them.

"Thanks, I'll pass", Hazel said, denying with her head. "I had just had breakfast, and if I go into one of those, I… well, it wouldn't be a nice experience"

"Well, so both of us go!", Myona exclaimed, picking Cage's hand and running towards the queue.

"Hey, Myona, wait!", Ares yelled, hoping to stop his sister.

"What?", she asked, from a distance. "Ah, you are wondering where do we meet again, aren't you? Let's gather together at the restaurant at 3:00 PM. Bye!", she said, waving at Hazel and Ares, who were far too puzzled by her reaction. Soon, the young couple was already out of sight…

"They lie too bad", Hazel stated, making Ares turn back to face her, instead of looking towards where Myona and Cage run.

"Uh?"

"I said that they lie too bad. I was with Cynthia before coming here, and she told me that no one told her about this, or she would have come, and would have postponed her plans for another day"

"And what was she going to do?"

"She was going to spend all her savings at the shopping, in a new sale. I just hope nothing bad will happen now…", she said, thoughtfully. "Anyway, they shouldn't have asked you to come. Well, they shouldn't have asked me in first place"

"Well… they… I don't know in what they were thinking", Ares said, trying to hide the fact that Hazel was right.

"I should say that. I still can't understand why I had accepted, if I already knew they were a couple. I guess it was because Myona insisted too much, and I didn't want to let her down. Anyway, I could have come with some excuse but I didn't…"

"She's quite persistent, isn't she?", he asked, smiling lightly, almost proudly.

"Just 'quite'? She's too persistent! Too much for me, but maybe it's a good thing to be like that"

They stayed silent for a little while, looking at each other and their surroundings. Nice problem they had. What were they going to do with someone they barely knew? Surely, it was too odd and uncomfortable…

"Well, what are we to do now?", Hazel asked him, resigned.

"Let's walk around, maybe we can find something interesting to do"

And so, they started walking along the park, hoping that the day would be over soon.

* * *

"Why they are taking that long?"

Patience was something that Razma was starting to loose, as they were waiting for the kids for about five minutes, and he already wanted to leave the orphanage. Not that he didn't like it, but he wanted to get out from there.

Semyl just shrugged at his comment. She was getting used to that kind of comments coming from him, so she wasn't surprised or annoyed by that. Instead, she thought that he was getting more childish as time went by, instead of maturing. Bad luck.

They had planned to go with the kids –Jojo, Pauly and Gilbert- somewhere, as they did frequently. Semyl always had the initiative, and Razma just followed her, maybe because he had gotten used to the kids and would miss them if he didn't see them from time to time.

"It's a pity that Myona and Cage couldn't come", Semyl said, starting some topic of conversation to kill time (Jojo was now a little lady, so she could be spending much time attending her appearance while the others were already ready and waiting for her), and to relax Razma, who was getting a bit nervous with each second that went by. "Ares hasn't come yet, and Hazel and Cynthia don't know the kids yet, so we should think in something, so the girls can meet them"

Razma chuckled, funnily.

"What?!?", she asked, looking angry at him. "What was so funny?"

"Well, yes, we should think in something", he said, now talking normally. "I wonder how those are doing, right now"

"Who?"

"Cage and Myona, with Hazel and Ares"

Semyl looked at him puzzled, without understanding a word of what he had just said.

"Well, Cage invited Myona to that theme park, but she invited Hazel for some reason, and the only victim he found to go with them was Ares, and now they are all at the theme park. I wonder what they are doing now"

"Crap! I should have thought in something like that before!", Semyl thought angrily, swinging her fist furiously. She was mad at the idea of Hazel and Ares together, but she was now more furious after coming to know that her beloved friend Myona took part in that meeting!

"What? Are you jealous of Hazel?", Razma asked, kind of annoyed.

"Who? Me?", Semyl asked, embarrassed. She thought she hadn't been that evident, but… And what's more, that seemed to piss off Razma, so that had a meaning…

"No, who could it be? My granny?", the red haired youth replied sarcastically and angrily. "Are you still interested in him? He will never notice you by the way. Nor Hazel, so don't take it as a personal offense. It's just that he's of that kind of guys that I think that wouldn't match with any girl…"

"Oh, yes, because you would match a lot with Hazel. HA!"

"Stop with that! I never said I liked her!"

"Come on! I know you too well! You like anything that wears a SKIRT!"

"Hey, now you are being offensive! Why do you attack me like that?"

"Why had you started, then?"

"Oh, shut up that they are coming!", Razma replied, trying to look calmer while the kids were coming down the stairs.

* * *

"This is odd…", Hazel whispered softly while walking next to Ares, trying to find something worth the ride in the theme park. She was a bit reminiscent of getting in a roller-coaster, and Ares wasn't in the mood to get into one, so they were walking aimlessly, trying to handle the situation.

"Did you say something?", he asked, suddenly.

"Now, I haven't", she replied, quickly, feeling ashamed of herself. 'Great, I got a blind date without wanting or even asking it, and I'm not in the mood to face it. He'll just think I'm a totally nuts or a complete bore, if he doesn't think I'm really disgusting, cold and distant", she thought bitterly, as she grabbed Ares' right arm tightly, without noticing that. She just realized what she was doing when Ares stopped walking and she felt that he was looking at her. Just then she looked at him puzzled, and then, as he was looking at his arm, understood everything.

"I… I'm sorry", she said, blushing brightly and quitting her hands from his arm as if she had touched fire, and walking away from him. 'Mars, swallow me…', she thought, with her eyes wide shut.

"Hey, I didn't want to be rude!", he apologized, now feeling guilty. "Hey, calm down, you are too nervous! Do you want to leave this place? I have no problem, I have nothing to do with what Cage and Myona planned!", he told her, walking to her. He then realized that he always referred to his sister as 'Myona' and not as 'Pharsti'. Well, he had already let his real name, Vale Shatner, fall into forget, after the incidents of a year and a half ago. He knew that that him, 'Vale', had already died long ago, as well as 'Pharsti'. It was a new beginning, a chance he couldn't let go that easily. 'Maybe Cage saw that before I did, and arranged this', he thought, as he grabbed Hazel's hand, making her shiver.

"Sorry... I didn't want to be that rude", she said, looking at her hand, grabbed by Ares, and quitting it softly. "Let's see if we can find something", she said, rubbing her hand as she started walking in haste.

"Hey, wait!", he said, as he walked fast to meet her again. "Relax, you are too nervous…"

"I know. I never imagined this, that's why I'm like this. I don't act this odd when I'm calm"

"Instead, you are at the defensive".

Hazel stood still, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Are you alright?", Ares asked her, fearful of having hurt her with that commentary.

"Is it that obvious?", she asked, sort of sad.

"Well… yes", Ares said, thinking why all the girls aboard the Saoshyant kept on asking why some aspects of their behaviours "were too obvious".

"Well, you barely speak, if that's the case", she snapped back, shyly. She got the desired effect, 'revenge accomplished': Ares turned silent and serious for a moment.

"See? You are always defending yourself and attacking the others when needed", he replied, his voice had no hint of anger or annoyance, as she was expecting, and that puzzled her. "Hey, everything's alright, let's do something to kill time", he said, friendly, trying to cheer her up.

Her eyes widened, and he could tell that a little hint of joy appeared in her eyes, making them shine differently than when she was in her normal state.

"Look!", she said, with a broad smile. "The 'water roller-coaster'!", she exclaimed excited, pointing at the big, waterfall-like structure standing far from them. It was a green and brown structure, resembling a jungle, with its uncountable trees and continuous waterfalls. The visitors had to seat in log-like boats, and would end up terrible soaked if they were going in the first seats. The only idea of getting in that kind of roller-coaster made Ares think in running away.

"You aren't serious, are you?"

"Oh, come on! You said we needed to do something to kill some time, so let's go there! It's been a long time since I rode one of those! Come on, please?", she asked him, excited as he never saw her before. Her enthusiasm was something that he didn't want to spoil, but…

"Hazel… I…"

"Come on, you'll see that you'll like it!", she said, grabbing his hand and running towards the queue, much to his disappointment.

* * *

"It's great to be so high, isn't it, Myona?"

The young couple was in the other point of the park, in a ride at the Ferris Wheel – a romantic attraction if there was one. Everything seemed so little below them, as if the buildings and structures were toys and people had become ants.

Myona was leaning her head over Cage's chest, lovingly. She just nodded as an answer.

"Anything wrong?", Cage asked his girl, worried. "You've been too thoughtful lately"

Myona sat properly, and faced him.

"It's just that… there wasn't anybody else who could come, that you had to tell my brother?"

Cage sighed. "So it was that", he said, resigned. As Myona nodded, he added, "Well, I hadn't thought I would annoy you that much. I'm sorry"

"It's not that it annoys me, it just makes me feel uncomfortable", the purple haired girl replied, seriously. "I don't know how to act in front of him. He's my brother, you are his best friend… It's just strange", she said, sighing.

"You don't have to worry. He understands that we are going out, and he hasn't made any 'jealous, over-protective big brother' scene yet, and I doubt he will"

"Anyway, you never know. On the other hand, it's strange to see him with a girl, as if it were a date"

Cage laughed briefly. "What? Are you jealous?", he asked her, chuckling.

Myona rose her head mechanically, and looked a bit annoyed at Cage's eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me", she said, coldly. But then she softened her tone. "It's strange, that's all. On the other hand, Hazel is strange in a way, also…"

"The odd couple", Cage joked, entertained.

"It's not that funny", she replied, slightly annoyed.

"Well, you didn't got to know how strange Hazel is, as you decided to run to the spinning tea-cups as soon as your brother got his ticket"

"I was in panic. What did you want me to do?", Myona asked, shrugging and looking confused. "I know it wasn't the best thing to do, but it was the only thing I could do at that time, I didn't think in anything while I was acting like that"

"Anyway, the tea-cups were great fun", the blue haired boy said, trying to change the topic.

"I wonder where are they now", Myona sighed, worried. "My brother never liked roller-coasters, and I…"

"Shhh… stop worrying, and enjoy the ride", Cage whispered at her ear, embracing her sweetly, while looking at the horizon from the window. "You are his sister, not his mother. Besides, he's old enough to look after himself", Cage added, thoughtfully. "Now that I think of it, he always knew how to look after himself..."

Myona closed her eyes for a second and smiled lightly, then she leant her head in his chest, again.

* * *

"Woah! That was awesome!", Hazel exclaimed, while walking out from the 'water roller-coaster'. She was quite wet, but enraptured with the atraction. A few meters behind her was Ares, who wasn't thinking like her.

"Well, I disent. You really seemed to have enjoyed it, though", he just commented, while trying to dry up his coat, which was totally soaked.

"Oh, come on, don't get so annoyed, it was fun!", she told him, smiling cheerfully, thing that called Ares' attention, as she wasn't someone who would smile that often, or more than two times in a day.

"You can say that because you weren't the one who got that wave", he complained, but funnily. He wasn't going to spoil that smile of hers, that caught his attention. "Look at me now. It seems that I had just got off from the shower, after having a bath with my clothes on"

"Well, you don't look that bad like that", Hazel giggled, staring at the soaked Ares. However, her giggle lasted some brief seconds, after she realized what she had just said. As soon as she realized, she blushed and tried to evade Ares' gaze, who was puzzled by that statement.

"I… I didn't want to mean that…", she started saying, trying to come up with a good apology. "I…"

"Stop apologizing that much, it seems like you regret every instant of your life", he said, walking next to her. "Well, to be sincere, you would look nice if your head would be a bit more wet", he said, sort of embracing her with one arm and squeezing his soaked coat over her head with the other, while she struggled to escape, giggling.

They were like a free, young couple, and not like two strangers in a forced blind date. If anyone who knew them happened to see them right in that instant, they would say that they were completely different people. Cynthia would be puzzled by her always serious cousin behavior. In fact, the young student thought that her cousin had lost her smile some time ago, and that it would be a hard task to make her smile more often. If she had had the opportunity to see that scene, she would have thought that someone replaced her cousin with another person. Without going much further, Myona would have sworn that that light haired youth wasn't her brother, but someone who resembled him too much.

They kept on struggling for a little while, until their eyes met, and soon, they understood that something was odd. Hazel evaded his sight as soon as she can, and started walking nervously, as if she could forget everything with that walk. Ares dropped his coat nervously, and after picking it up, he got up quickly and walked to her side in haste.

"Sorry", he said, as soon as he got next to her.

"I'm the one to blame", Hazel said, looking at both sides of the path, looking for something interesting. "I started everything"

"And I continued it", Ares said, with a small hint of pity in his voice. He didn't regret that moment, but it was odd, for the two of them. "You shouldn't get that nervous and closed to yourself, it won't be good to you. After all, we didn't do anything wrong, at all."

"Without any intention of offending you, are you listening to yourself?", Hazel asked, sharply. "You just have to see how you reacted when I came into the main room the other night, and you were playing that gorgeous song in your notebook… Then, you say that I'm the closed one"

Ares sighed deeply. It wasn't going to be an easy day…

"You just took me by surprise. I hadn't thought that anyone except me would be awake at that time. You'll never forgive me that, will you?"

Hazel didn't reply, and went on walking.

"You sure are difficult to get on with, aren't you?", Ares whispered for himself, as he was watching at the light haired girl walking brusquely, trying to find something good to do. She reminded a bit of himself with that "psychological shell" she had, always protecting herself of anything or anyone else…

He walked to her, again, for the unknown time in the day.

* * *

The shopping mall was crowded. And it was something quite obvious: if it weren't for that sale, she wouldn't have gone there, in a sunny day.

"At least I could buy some nifty clothes", Cynthia thought, cheering herself up, while trying to walk along the crowded corridor.

With some effort, she managed to get out of the building, but the street was also crowded. She walked trying to evade the other people, but soon she bumped into someone.

"You should be more careful with your bags… Hey, if it isn't Cynthia!", the man she bumped into said, first annoyed, then surprised.

"Who the…", she mumbled, also annoyed, but became cheerful again as soon as she raised her head. "Yukito! What are you doing here?!?"

"Well, I was in my way to an exposition… and you?"

"Oh, I just finished buying some things. You know, the sale at the shopping mall", she said, pointing with her thumb to the big, crowded building.

"I see… Well, see you!", he said, walking in the other direction, but she stopped him.

"What kind of exposition are you going to now?", she asked, curiously.

"Well… old school science-fiction and fantasy, why do you ask?"

"How old? Ten, twenty years ago stuff?"

Yukito was quite surprised by the teen's curiosity. He would have never expected her to be interested in those topics, but fashion, hair-dressing and sewing, instead.

"Err… a bit older. Late twenty, early twenty one century stuff. I don't think you'll enjoy that"

Cynthia looked at the sky for a while, sign that she was meditating her answer.

"Mind you if I join you? I'm not a hard-die fan of that, but I have nothing else to do and I don't want to return home right now", she explained, hoping he would accept.

The green haired young man stayed thoughtful for a while…

"Come on, I won't do anything wrong, I'll be a good girl!", she pleaded, smiling. "Who knows? Maybe I'll end up liking it. I don't dislike fantasy and sci-fi, but I'm not that much on those topics, so I guess it can be a good occasion to learn something new"

"Alright. I just hope you won't get bored"

"I don't think so", she said, walking by his side, with that broad, never falling smile of hers.

* * *

"They should be coming soon, don't you think?", Hazel asked Ares, while opening her mineral water bottle, after looking at her watch.

They were already at the fast-food restaurant, waiting for the 'merry couple' to come, as it was already later than 3:00 PM, accorded time for lunch. Ares and Hazel had just arrived to the shop, and sat on a table outside, so they could find Cage and Myona sooner.

"Well, it's just 3:15, so they have to be on their way here", the light haired youth replied, lacking enthusiasm.

Hazel sipped some of her water, thoughtfully. "What are we going to do after this?", she asked, her eyes fixed in her bottle.

Ares stared at the sky for a moment, then he faced her again.

"Well, I don't know. We have walked around the place, and there's not much else to do here", he replied, tired. He looked at her, and her thoughtful state caught his attention: it was as if she were deeply concentrated in something else, while drinking her water, like there wasn't anything else in the world. It worried him a bit, that puzzling state of hers. After all, drinking water was the most natural thing in the world. "Anything wrong?"

Hazel left her bottle in the table, trying to hide her 'coming back to Earth'.

"Nothing, I was thinking about your name"

Ares rose an eyebrow, surprised.

"My name? What's wrong with my name?", he asked, puzzled. "You sure are bored, to think in something like that"

Hazel smiled lightly, and picked her bottle again. "Ares is the Roman God of War, the equivalent to Mars in Greek Mythology, and of whom this planet was named after… I was just thinking in that…". She sipped another bit of water. "In Greek Mythology, he wasn't liked too much by the other Gods, so he was quite a loner…"

"And so, you associated him with me", Ares completed the phrase, sighing. 'Well, seems that Jimmer already had plans for me when he gave me that name', he thought bitterly, trying to remain calm in appearance, although he was a bit annoyed.

"Sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, I'm of the ones who think that a person's name says too much about him or her"

"Well, at least I don't have the name of a tree", he replied srcastically.

Hazel laughed briefly, leaning against the chair.

"Hey, it's not a tree! It's the product of the hazelnut!", she defended herself, cheerfully. "Hey, I'm not the one to blame if my parents called me after their favorite tree, just because it was important for them and because it sounded nice with my surname!"

"A tree can be too important for a couple?"

"Well, my father proposed marriage to my mother under a hazelnut, so… I got that name as a reminder of their love, like it or not", she shrugged when she ended her explanation.

"The funny thing is that you don't have hazel eyes nor hair", Ares commented, smiling lightly.

Hazel giggled, resigned and funny, but in that giggle there was a hint of melancholy and sadness, although they don't seem to match much. "Well, you don't look like a War demon or something like that either, so I guess we don't resemble our names in the physical aspect"

Ares stayed silent, thoughtfully. Deep inside his feelings, he was starting to feel thankful that he hadn't met Hazel a year and a half along, when he met the BIS gang, for some unknown reason. Hazel wouldn't have thought the same if she was there at that time, he thought, bitterly. But those were past times, he had to start to forget them and to start again anew, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Well, I wonder how you would manage to resemble a hazelnut in your psychology", he replied, naturally.

Hazel started laughing, and it seemed she wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "It's odd" , Ares though, while looking at her. "She never smiles or laughs, and when she does, it seems that she barely moves her lips, and now she's laughing as if she were a complete different person. Not that I dislike this, all on the contrary… "

Hazel stopped laughing, but a gentle smile remained in her lips.

"Well, you are more than right. I would have to act passive throughout my life to resemble a hazelnut"

Ares also laughed, but he soon noticed Myona and Cage near, but walking in the other direction, as if they wanted to leave the restaurant. He got up soon and called them. The young couple looked at each other, and started walking in their direction, sort of resigned.

"What happened?", Hazel asked, still smiling.

"Nothing, I found Cage and Myona", he replied, sitting down again, also smiling. "Apparently, they were about to leave the restaurant"

"Well, we'll have to make room for them", she said, moving her chair to the left and her things.

"Yeah, you are right", he nodded, and did the same.

Soon, Cage and Myona appeared, after skipping many tables and chairs.

"Hi", Myona greeted again, sitting next to Hazel. "How have you been?"

"Well, a bit soaked", Ares replied, while he noticed Hazel giggling, as if they were sharing a secret.

"Soaked? How?", Cage asked incredulously, while looking at the menu. He was quite hungry…

"The 'water roller-coaster", Hazel replied, briefly.

Myona looked at Ares oddly, but he barely paid attention to that. Instead, he asked, "And what about you? You just vanished as soon as we got into here". He said the last line coldly, so it would have some effect in Myona. And he succeeded, as she grew a bit nervous and started playing with Hazel's bottle, which was empty now.

"Did you enjoy the spinning tea-cups?", Hazel asked quickly, noticing Myona's nervousness again, and trying to help her, and to cheer the atmosphere up.

Myona smiled lightly, thanking Hazel for her help in that way.

"Yes, they are superb!", she replied, happily. "They are fast, but awesome"

"Talk for yourself, they weren't that great for me", Cage complained, grabbing his hamburger.

Hazel smiled lightly. "Seems that there aren't any 'brave guys' around lately", she said, looking in Ares' direction and winking to Myona.

Ares got surprised by that change of attitude in the light-blue haired girl. Her eyes were now shinning differently, as if she were planning another silly joke, and although she was now covering her mouth with a tissue, he could tell that she was smiling broadly. It was as if she was flirting or something... She seemed another person compared to the silent, serious girl that he met at the Saoshyant that evening, when he got reunited with the BIS gang again. He liked that, her eyes shinning brightly, her lips turning into a big smile, her whole self free, without being at the defensive…

"Hey, do you say that because of me?", he replied, with all those thoughts still in his head.

"No, I just said that… it was a silly statement", she replied, still cheerful, still smiling.

"Thinking about me, because you looked this way", Ares insisted, smiling lightly.

"I meant boys in general. You aren't the only one"

"But the only one here that shared the ride with you"

Cage and Myona looked at themselves puzzled, surprised. Neither of them had expected something like that. Myona, because she didn't know her brother was coming. Cage, because he hadn't expected that they would have that kind of 'chemistry'. On the other hand, it was so strange to see two silent people in a 'ping-pong' chat like the one they were both having. Silently, making gentle moves, they started picking their things.

"So I'm the weak one? You don't like roller-coasters", Hazel stated, playing offended.

"Ha! Say that again! I thought you said you didn't like them, either!"

"But you didn't even like the water roller-coaster!"

"Because I got completely soaked! You weren't the one going by the water's side!"

"That's the funny thing!"

"It's funny when you have more clothes so you can change the wet ones!", Ares replied, smiling. Then he looked to Cage and Myona, who were standing up. "Hey, where are you going?"

"We'll meet you at the entrance at five! See you!", Myona greeted, waving at them and running in the other direction, grabbing Cage's hand.

"Hey, wait…!", Ares called, but it was late, they were already gone… again.

He turned back and sat down again, frustrated. Hazel was blushing lightly, with her head lowered, feeling ashamed of herself. After all, she was acting like a six-year-old child, in her opinion.

Ares sighed deeply, tired.

"There they go again"

"Yes", Hazel said, staring at the table. "And they left everything here, including the bill"

Ares looked at the table, and he couldn't do anything but shrugging.

* * *

"Spring afternoon… a lovely weather, thankfully. Lia can play as happily as ever, and I don't have to worry much thinking if she'll get a cold or not with the clothes she's wearing", Mebius thought calmly, while looking at the little girl playing at the biggest park in that area of the sphere.

There wasn't many people around, and that made her feel both calm and nervous at the same time. She called her foster child, so she would remain near her, while she walked her way to the monolith that was standing in one of the park's corners. It was a single, tall piece of stone, in memory of all the victims, Enders or Earthlings, that lost their lives in the uncountable fights that took place in the last years. After the Anubis incident the year before, the authorities of Hellespontos County put that piece of stone in the park, maybe to look like the 'good guys' in front of the UNSF and Earth's eyes.

In less than a decade, many, many people lost everything: family, home, dear people, achievements, lives… for the sake of some unknown thing. After all, who knew the real reason of all those struggles? Martian independence? People's equality, from Earth or not? Power? Revenge? The main purpose just vanished through time, and the supposed balance of peace was lost, once again, and that repeated time over time…

She walked slowly, carrying a single white rose she picked from the ground earlier. Teary-eyed, she was walking towards the monolith, wondering about her reasons to fight in first place. She had moved to Mars with her husband, as he had been promoted to a higher job in Mars. Soon, she was pregnant. Everything seemed fine, wonderful: she was a young married woman, madly in love with her husband, and the other way round; she had a good job, and his husband was even better employed, and they were going to have a baby… But the sudden loss of her husband in an accident, and the loss of Tia, the child in her belly, drove her into depression. Coming to know that an Earth general took part in the accident that killed her husband didn't help her at all, but depressed her. During some UNSF inquiries she met Deckson, and then, when he created BIS, she just joined them, as if she could avenge her dear ones losses that way. And since then, she stayed in the group, without thinking in her motivations to stay… until now.

"It had to be a way to avoid tragedies like the ones I suffered", she thought, as a kind of answer, as she stopped walking, facing the monolith. The dark, black granite stone shone brightly, reflecting the afternoon spring sun. The image of Deckson came to Mebius mind, and she closed her eyes, as a lone tear fall over her face. "I also had to retrieve all the strength that Deckson gave me when I was down… and now, that he's also gone… I think it's just a kind of loyalty and attachment to the group. I think I can't live far from everyone right now", she thought, drying up her tears, and staring at the little, blonde girl playing not far from where she was.

Mebius smiled lightly at the sight of Lia. "It seems as if someone wanted to return my dead daughter to me", she thought, feeling some hope. "I would have never have met that lively child if I wasn't in BIS…". She smiled with more strength this time, as she remembered the first time she had her in her arms…

She knelt down, and left the white rose she had in her hand, in memorial of her dead husband, Tia, Deckson and Phil, and in all the others that she didn't know, but lost their lives for some unknown reason. She stand up quickly, and looked at the monolith once again, trying to wash away her painful memories. That day they were striking at her harder than any other day, and there was a reason…

"Mebius?", a familiar voice called her, and she turned back, trying to look calm and normal.

Right behind her, Warren was standing, with the little girl in hie arms, while she played with his things.

Mebius smiled lightly, yet tired.

"Hi, Warren", she greeted, giving her back to the monolith. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled lightly, and pointed with his chin to one his right arm, where he had a rucksat.

"I was returning from the gym. I always take this route, it's a shorter way to the Saoshyant", he explained, calmly. Then, he noticed her teary eyes. "Has something happened?"

Mebius lowered her head, then she told Lia to go and play around, thing that the little girl agreed to do without any complains.

"What has happened? You look…"

"I don't want to talk about this around her, I fear that she can listen and keep it in her memory, and I don't want that", Mebius explained him, staring at the little girl, who was now playing a few meters away. "I just… left a flower in memory of my family… Today… it's another anniversary of… my important someone's death", she said, turning to tears again. Since her husband's dead, she couldn't even say his name, with little exceptions. And this one was no exception.

Warren stayed there, silent, not knowing how to react.

"I… see", he said, finally, a bit awkwardly.

"I chose to came here so she could play a bit, without noticing that I'd cry… I don't want her to see me this bad, she's little, but I'm sure it can affect her somehow", she said, near a state of despair.

He put his hand over her shoulder, and handed her a tissue.

"Let's return to the Saoshyant, or have a coffee somewhere, but this place makes no good to you"

Mebius nodded, and called Lia while she took the tissue he handed her over.

"Do you want me to take her home while you stay more?", he offered, politely. "You know that you can ask me to stay with Lia if you have other things to do, I have no problem to spend more time with her", he added, as he stared at the little girl that was slowly becoming "the light in his eyes"

"No, it's alright", she said, while she hold Lia in her arms. "I've had enough for today, a rest will make me good". Her voice was now more relaxed, as if she had lost a heavy weight from above her shoulders. "Thanks", she said, and started walking.

Warren replied nothing, and started walking by the girls side.

* * *

Perfect score, if someone would have taken note of that throw.

"Guess I lost the bet", Hazel noticed, acting sad.

"I told you I wasn't that bad in this", Ares said, after he received his prize: a plastic, yellow duck. Walking his way out of the attraction, he rose an eyebrow while staring at the yellow thing. "And I had to throw a ball and make it go throw a tiny hole to get this?!?"

Hazel giggled, funnily. "Anyway, I lost my bet. Here you have the money of that game", she said, handing him some coins, although he didn't want to accept them, but he had to, at the end. She just kept on insisting.

"Alright, here you have", he said; while he took her money, he gave her the duck. "I have no use for it"

"Oh, because I do", she replied, sarcastically. "What am I supposed to do with it? I won´t play with it while I take a shower, you know"

"Keep it as a reminder of this day", he suggested, smiling.

"If you say so", she said, looking at it, "How can we call it?"

Ares shivered when she said 'we', but he didn't complain.

"I don't know… Croak?"

Hazel laughed.

"That looks more like a frog than a duck… Donald?"

"Like Donal duck?"

"Well, it was the first duck name I came across", she said, shrugging.

"Thinking that way, it doesn't sound that bad", he said, thoughtfully, while walking aimlessly through the park. "Have you noticed the trivial thing we are discussing?", he asked, then, sort of surprised.

Hazel smiled lightly, as she put the duck in her purse.

"Well, normal people talk about silly things"

"Know what? You are kind of strange. You seem more relaxed now"

She looked to her right for a single second, then she kept on walking naturally.

"Thanks", she said. "You too"

"Guess we needed some time to get used to each other"

"Maybe"

They went on walking silently, heading for the park's entrance. In less than an hour, they had to meet Myona and Cage again, if they hadn't already left.

"Well, we didn't have a terrible bad day, after all", Hazel said, bringing up the first topic of conversation that came across her head. She was starting to speak shyly, and that was a sign that she was getting nervous again…

"Yes, it wasn't that… cough, cough"

Ares couldn't finish his phrase, even if he didn't want to, because a sudden cough attack took him by surprise. He started coughing hardly, and he ended up kneeling on the ground, while he was still coughing and making his best to stop with it.

"Ares! Ares, are you alright?", Hazel asked, worried. She had knelt down by his side, staring at him.

Finally, he stopped coughing, and tried to smile. He rose his head, and his eyes met with Hazel's. He could tell that she was too worried, as they were shining differently, quickly, as if she was also feeling fear. He was starting to feel guilty for having worried her. But he was feeling better physically. As soon as his coughs began, they were gone.

"I'm fine", he said, standing up. "It was nothing to worry", he added, as he helped her to stand up.

Hazel looked at him, worried.

"That wasn't something normal", she said, seriously. "Are you sure it isn't something to worry about?"

"Not at all", he replied, calmly. "I must have swallowed badly, that's all"

"Nobody coughs like that for that reason", she faced him, frowning. "That wasn't something normal, I tell you. Are you sure you are ok?"

"Everything's fine. Come on, let's go", the light haired youth said, acting naturally, but he found a worried expression in Hazel's face. Her eyes were shining fast, as if they were trembling. Her whole expression showed worry.

"We can go to the first aid room. You should see a doctor as soon as possible", she suggested, but more than a suggestion, it looked like a plead. "I can go with you, I have no problem with that"

Ares froze for a second. It had to be the second time (and the first one excluding Myona) in his life that a girl told him to look after himself. And this one was almost a complete stranger, although she was too worried and could have passed as his friend, at the eyes of the passer-byes, who didn't paid attention to them.

He looked right at her eyes.

"I'm fine", he said, speaking confidently. "You have nothing to worry"

Hazel lowered her head, feeling awkward.

"Come on, let's go", he said, starting to walk. "We have to hurry if we don't want Myona and Cage to escape, and we have a long way to the park's entrance"

Hazel just nodded, and started walking next to him, silently.

* * *

The Saoshyant's main room was very silent, next to be compared with a tomb, if it wasn't for the sounds of Twede's fingers typing in the keyboard.

One of the doors opened, and Robin came into the room. "Hi, Twede", she said, after giving a small yawn. "Are you still working at this time? It's already Saturday evening, you know"

"I'll finish soon", he replied, as impersonal as ever.

"Hey, what are you doing?", she asked, walking towards his place, and looking the computer screen. A long list of names was displayed. Robin frowned, and then she look at the table. What she was thinking was right what he was doing.

"So you finally investigated her, uh?", she said, while looking carefully at Hazel's driving license. She had to put it against the light to see Hazel's photo well, because the dark yellow card reflected the artificial light coming from the lights, making impossible to read or see what it was about. "And? How many people had she killed and buried at her backyard?"

"How funny", Twede replied, biting his lip. He kept on typing, writing a new search string. "What would you say if I tell you that she never worked at those supposed Labs?"

Robin raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm not completely sure, I would need more data to check that, but I hadn't found any "Hazel Drajner" in this employees database"

"How did you manage to get into the Labs database? I thought that neither Ares could do that!"

"Well, he gave it a short try, that's why he hadn't succeeded", Twede stated, feeling full of proud of himself. "Well, it was tough, but I managed to get into, somehow. Then I kept on searching for her in the Labs database, with the information I had from her driving license, but I hadn't found nobody like her", he explained, looking at Robin through his sunglasses, which were kind of attached to his body, in everyone's else opinion. "I searched in every category I found, I searched through the employees photographs, but I found nothing about her. I knew there was something wrong with her"

Robin sighed, tired. "And what if she was working illegally there? They won't have a record of illegal workers, you know"

"And why had they locked her –according to her story- when that group appeared? In that case, she would have had to be the first one to escape", he replied, trying to convince Robin that he was in the right.

"I don't know! Maybe they wanted to get rid of her somehow! Oh, please Twede! Stop with this paranoid thing of yours! She's no criminal, no spy!", Robin burst, annoyed with her assistant. "In that case, what's Cynthia doing with us?"

"I have no problems with her. It's weird to have someone like her in the group, but she does seem normal to me"

"Now you'll make a fuss because Hazel runs an OF, will you not? I suppose…"

"I have no comments on that. That OF can be highly advanced, something compared to Testament in what running matters. I doubt she could do something if we put her in the Orchrist"

"At least you don't accuse her of being Zephyrs daughter, so that's kind of relaxing!", she said, walking away with the light blue haired girl's card.

"Hey! Where are you going with that!?", her secretary complained, quite annoyed.

"I'm going to return this. She must be having a hard time looking for it"

"Well, do what you want. I have no use for that thing no more", he said, calmly.

Robin stood still, and her eyes widened by the small surprise that Twede's comment provoked her. Puzzled, she didn't turn back and left the card on the main room's table, and went to her room.

"It was a hard day, wasn't it?", Cage said, as soon as they all got into the Saoshyant's main room. The four youths coming from the theme park were all looking extremely tired, and Myona laid down on one of the sofas as soon as she got in. Ares sat down in the one person sofa, while Hazel giggled at Myona laying down, leaning on the wall.

"You bet", the light haired girl said, from her place on the wall. "I'm going to bed right now, I'm too tired to even think in eating", she said waving at everybody, but then something got her attention and walked to the table, where her license was.

"Hey, who found this? I thought I had lost it at the Labs…", she said, grabbing it and putting it in one of her pockets. "Anyway, good night", she said, shrugging, before going through the door that led to the rooms.

"Bye", the others reply, with the little strength they had left.

"Well, I'll follow her. Goodnight", Myona said, waving distantly before disappearing through the door.

Only Ares and Cage remained in the room.

"And?", the blue haired youth asked, grinning.

"And what?", Ares asked, harshly.

"What about Hazel?", Cage asked, with some other intention in his mind. "Do you like her?"

Ares raised an eyebrow, and let go a deep sigh, sign that he was getting tired of his game. "Do you now think you are Cupid, that you want to play matchmaker? Why don't you look something better to do?" He was quite annoyed, and obviously, he didn't want to talk about that.

"Hey, come on, I won't say anything!"

Unfortunately for Cage, his insistence made him get knocked by one of the cushions that were in the sofa, while Ares walked away.

* * *

Finalllllllyyyyyyy!!!!! I got to type this chapter!!!! This "love" sucking chapter…

Some voice: Mmmhh…… I know you've said that before, in some other fic…

Fiora (Fire Emblem: Rekka no ken): Yes! I said that in one of your post-chapter notes in "Trap for the Heart!"

Alina (tactician, the first voice): Yes, I remember that now… -shivers- Now I remember why I wanted to forget it…

Me (Nilke): Hey, what are you too doing here!?!? Fuu…. Fu…. Get out, get out!!

Fiora: Alright, alright, we are going…

Alina: Yes, just remember to stop making this kind of 'self-publicity' in the future, it's not… right.

Fiora: Yes, if you want more people to read your other works, well… look for some other way!

(they get out, and leave me alone at the keyboard)

Sorry for this part, I just felt I had to type it, hahaha Please, review this chapter, and if you feel you have to be nasty, just shoot, I'm prepared to cope with that :D

You can see how old is this chapter... I wrote "Trap for the Heart" like three years ago... Realizing this just made me shudder...


	10. Dioscuri

Chapter 10: "Dioscuri"

It was Monday afternoon, and again, the BIS main room was strangely quiet. What was going on with that crazy gang? That could have been the best question that someone who knew them could have asked.

Apart from that quietness, everything seemed normal. Everything was in its place, and it seemed like those days after Myona and Cage's departure, when the group was just there, with no activities in mind and wondering what would come next.

The unknown group seemed to have vanished, as it was going to be like two weeks after their last attack. Maybe they were gone for good, but they would have that bitter feeling of losing, as they hadn't found out who were they…

One of the doors opened, and Robin came in. The light haired leader of BIS left her things in one of the chairs, and sat down, letting go a deep sigh, sign that she was really tired.

Another door opened, this one was one of the doors that led to the bedrooms, and Mebius walked into the room, not carrying Lia, surprisingly. The little girl had to be asleep, it was one of the few times in which Mebius wasn't around her. Mebius was always with her, as if being constantly with her would make the child immune to "bad things".

"Hi, Robin", the blonde, cheerful young woman greeted, smiling. "How have you been?"

"Fine, but I'm terrible tired now", she replied, giggling. "The new 'nifty things' for the OFs aren't ready yet, and that's not so good; but apart from that, I'm fine, thanks"

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure we'll have them soon, and of great quality, like all the other times", the blonde young woman replied, as a way to make her friend relax a bit.

"Yes, you are right. Hey, where's everyone else? It's so silent here…", Robin asked, surprised by the fact that only Mebius and herself where in the main room, while everyone used to be there, usually. "It just doesn't look like BIS, you know"

"They must be in their rooms, but Twede and Warren are at the hangar, and I think that Ares is with them. They just wanted to check the frames' status, nothing out of routine"

"Right. Guess I'll pay them a visit"

"Sure", Mebius smiled, before turning back. "Oh, Cynthia's here. She has just arrived, and she's at Hazel's room, if you want to talk to them"

"Thanks", Robin replied, standing up. "Can you call them in a few minutes? I would like to talk to them, indeed"

"Sure. No problem!"

"Thanks".

And with that, the two young women went to their respective places…

* * *

"I should have imagined that you weren't going to change your decorative taste that soon!", Cynthia joked, playing scandalized, as she examined her cousin's room in the Saoshyant, while she took a seat in a small, comfortable sofa, one of the few things that Hazel brought with her when she 'moved' to the hideout.

Hazel's eyes looked at the ceiling, frustrated. "I'm not going to live here much, you know… This is temporary, so why would I decorate it?", she asked, not understanding much her cousin's reaction towards her room.

After all, it had all what she may need. A bed, a small closet, her little sofa from her apartment, a little table next to her bed, where the lamp and an old, almost 'dead' alarm clock were. She didn't need anything else there.

"You should take some 'taste classes'", Cynthia went on, looking at the bare metal walls. "At least you could put a picture, a cheap doll, or photos!" She regretted saying the last word right after she said it.

She looked at Hazel right at once, just to find her laying in her bed, without saying a word, as if she hadn't heard a single word. Immediately, Cynthia noticed that she had screwed her cousin's mood.

"Well, it's up to you", she said quickly, to mend her error. "Hey, what happened that you are back to your usual self, wearing jeans again?"

Hazel looked at her, then she looked at herself. She was wearing her favorite blue jeans and a grey t-shirt, and her jean jacket was laying next to her. It was then that she noticed that, just as Cynthia said, she had returned to her usual self.

"Well, guess that you are right", she replied, leaning her head over the pillow.

"It's a pity; you looked nice with that skirt"

"Yes? Oh well, you can't have it all", Hazel replied, faking an uninterested voice.

"Talking about that, how did you do with Ares? C'mon, tell me, tell me!", the brown haired student pleaded, highly enthusiastically. "You weren't going to avoid this, were you?"

Hazel moaned, and hid her face in the pillow for the second time. Then she sat down, so she could speak better, and analyze her cousin's expressions while she spoke to her.

"It wasn't a good moment, but we hadn't a bad time", she started, thinking well in her answers. "What were you expecting?"

"I don't know…", Cynthia looked to her right, mischievously. "That sounded like a variant of a blind date"

"How funny", Hazel replied ironically, throwing her pillow to her cousin. "What did you do last Saturday? You lost all your savings in the sale?"

Cynthia threw the pillow back, knowing that she wouldn't have another chance to return to the previous topic, as Hazel was something near an expert when evading issues were concerned; then she replied. "Not exactly. I still have something left, but I'm loosing interest in sales. After that one, I went to an old sci-fi exposition"

Hazel let go a short laugh. "And how did you get there?"

"I bumped into Yukito after getting out from the shopping mall"

Hazel stayed silent for a while, playing with her pillow. "I see", she replied, finally. "And how did you do?"

"Oh, perfect! It was something really interesting, out of the ordinary. Some things were really strange, but I liked it"

"I'm glad for you", Hazel smiled, laying on the bed again as she said that. 

"What's wrong?", Cynthia asked her, uncomfortably. For some reason, she felt that her cousin was now acting strange, as if she were worried about her.

"Nothing", Hazel said. "It's just that I can't get the picture... I can't see you hanging out with Yukito, that's all"

Cynthia looked at Hazel as if she was crazy. "Hey, I see him as a big brother, if that's what you want to know", she said, sighing. "He's not my type... or is it that you are jealous, because I can hang out with some other older people rather than you?", she asked, now chuckling.

Hazel's eyes rolled, and as her only reply, she threw her pillow to Cynthia, once more.

"Ok, I guess that topic's finished. So... won't you tell me anything about your attempt of blind date?", Cynthia insisted, making her cousin moan again.

"No", was the blue haired girl's short answer, but Cynthia could tell that she was smiling under her arm.

"Oh, well, do as you like, I already know that you are smiling and that you like it", she told her, acting as if she felt some kind of superiority, and moving her head around with some 'elegant behavior'. "Oh, changing the topic! I brought a list with some names I came across for our OFs weapons!", she added, searching in her bag quickly for a common sheet of paper. "Here you have"

Hazel stretched her arm, and picked the paper with some difficulty, as she hadn't moved much. She read it, and moaned again, disappointed by what she had just read.

" Twin swords ", Hazel commented, still looking at the paper. " Crimson Shield ? I thought you could do better… Wait! What does this mean: Saint Pure Sword as your sword attack? This rings a bell, you know…", she added, thoughtfully and puzzled. "You still watch that old show? I thought you had already forgotten about it…"

Cynthia acted surprised, again, parodying a jaw-dropping expression and opening wide her eyes, as if what she had just heard was some kind of heretic statement. "How can you say that? That show made my childhood even nicer of what it was!", she cried, trying to go on acting, but she ended up laughing before she could finish her sentence. She really enjoyed acting, after all, although she always messed it up later. That was one of the reasons because she never got to join the Drama Club at her school…

"As if it had been sad"

Now, Hazel's tone was sarcastic, but it was easy to tell that she was nicer than when Cynthia came into her room.

"Anyway, the Wedding Peach show really fits us, especially you", Cynthia went on with her explanation, cheerfully. "If someone decided to make a live-action remake of that superb magical girl series, you should be Angel Salvia"

Hazel rose an eyebrow, skeptically.

"And you would be Momoko, a.k.a. Wedding Peach, am I not wrong?"

"Hey, that's not like that! I have some more things in my head, you know. I would have to be Yuri/ Angel Lily, that would really suit me"

"Yeah, yeah, as you say"

"Hey, but it's true! You are really like Scarlet or Salvia, and I'm the splitting image of Yuri!"

Hazel started laughing hard, so hard that she ended up coughing badly. "As you say", she said, between her laughter and her coughs.

"Hmph!", Cynthia complained, as she crossed her arms and her eyes, pointing up with her chin. "I'm a graceful, soft young lady…"

"Until you get pissed off, then you are a lady no more", the blue haired girl finished the phrase, covering her face with the pillow, to hide her laughter.

"Very funny", her cousin replied sarcastically, frowning. "I think I should bring those old tapes and torture you with that show a bit. Then, you would notice the resemblance"

"What? You still have those things somewhere?"

"Of course! What were you expecting from a big fan like me?"

"I thought you had erased them long ago"

"Never ever! That was a really impressing love story to even think in erasing it. Ahh… so 'Romeo and Juliet' like…" Cynthia blinked fast and let go a romantic sigh as she said that, making Hazel want to scream.

"Yuck. You can't be serious…", Hazel said, disgusted.

"You are the one that can't be serious! How can it be that you aren't interested in love stories? Every girl dreams in having a boy-friend, and you seem totally disconnected with that!"

"That's my business", the gray-eyed girl said harshly, playing with her pillow (which was now looking a bit… spoiled, by the way). "I'm just 19. Why should I hurry to find someone?"

"Leave it that way, you'll never change", the brown haired student sighed. "Back to our previous topic, it was great! Those transformations, those phrases! Wedding Graceful Flower !"

Cynthia leaned back, with her index finger in top, trying to look like any of all those mentioned characters in their transformation scene, with bad luck, because she almost fell backwards. Quickly, she sat again, silently. She stared at her cousin, who was still leaning in her bed, also silent.

"Do you remember when we used to see that show at your place?", Cynthia finally said, thoughtfully, almost lost.

Hazel took her time to reply, like every time she had to speak about her past. "Yes. Those were good times…"

"Good old times… when everything was… fine"

"Peaceful…", the light haired youth filled in like a whisper, softly, closing her eyes, as a lone, vagabond tear slid across her cheek.

A metallic sound resounded in the room, and a few seconds later the door opened, and Mebius came in.

"Hi, girls. Are you ok?", the blonde haired young woman greeted the cousins, cheerfully at first, a bit worried later, as she noticed them too taciturn.

"Yes, we are fine", Hazel replied, getting up.

"Robin waits us in the hangar. Shall we go now?"

"Sure", the blue haired girl replied, picking her jean jacket, and going through the door.

"I wonder how she manages to look normal when she's destroyed at heart…", Cynthia thought, looking at her cousin, while leaving the room after Mebius.

* * *

" Twin Swords , Beam Motion , Crimson Shield , Dual Beam Motion , Green Lance ?", Robin read puzzled the names written in Cynthia's sheet of paper, raising an eyebrow. "What does this mean?"

"What? Read the title!", the mentioned girl told her, pointing the title in her tidy, handwritten paper. "'Twin Swords' would be Hazel's OF regular attack with swords, 'Beam Motion' and 'Dual Beam Motion' stand for that awesome, nifty slashing attack in which my cousin strikes several units in a row; the name changes whether it's with a single sword or with both of them. 'Crimson Shield' stands for that big red shield that saved us last time; finally, 'Green Lance' is Carpe's regular lance attack, and I have to think in something nice for Hazel's gun attack and for my sword attack and a variant for my kick attack", she explained, as a scholar would have done in a conference.

"May I ask a question?", Yukito asked, grinning. "You've been having too many magical girl animes throughout your life?"

"Let me answer that!", Hazel 'intercepted' the question. "YES!"

"Hey, it's like a tribute, and the names suit them well!", Cynthia complained, smiling.

"Goodness, what we have to cope with", Twede sighed, leaving the hangar. He had had another image of Cynthia, and now he was feeling far too disappointed.

"Indeed, they are strange, but if you can't think in anything better…", Robin said, giving the paper back to Cynthia, feeling awkward. She didn't know what to do with those names…

"Well, can we leave?", Razma asked, right after Robin gave back the paper to the brown haired student. The chat about their opinion about the unknown group and their OFs and LEVs had already ended. Apparently, Razma was quite eager to get out from the hangar, for some reason.

"What? Are you gonna miss a date?", Semyl joked, sarcastically.

Everyone chuckled, except Razma, who glared at the reddish haired girl while leaving the room.

"If you want to… there's no problem", Robin replied, grabbing her suitcase.

"Great. Let's prepare everything for tea, Myona!", Semyl exclaimed, grabbing Myona's hand and hurrying to the kitchen. Against what everyone could think, Semyl was a great fan of cooking little things like cookies or cakes. Poor Myona barely waved at her sweetheart before going through the door.

"Hey, may I join?", Cynthia yelled, but she had no answer.

"Don't worry, you can go later. I don't think there's any problem", Mebius said, conforming her.

"Thanks"

"Hey, Hazel, are you alright?", Warren asked, worried by the girl's passive state.

Cynthia turned round as she heard that, just to find her cousin standing, looking at some direction. She followed it with her sight, and ended up smiling when she realized what Hazel was looking so interested.

Ares was sitting in front of his notebook, typing many commands, in one of his tries to crack some security code of some file. She turned back to see if Hazel went on looking, but she noticed that she wasn't looking at Ares' himself, but at the screen.

"Yes, she's right", Cynthia replied for her, walking in her direction. "She's just in some 'contemplation state'"

It was then when the light haired girl reacted. "Ah, sorry… I was wondering how does he manage to crack those things", she explained, shyly, looking down.

"Ah, I see…", Warren replied, puzzled, walking away.

"Are you sure it was just that?", Cynthia whispered her at her ear, mischievously.

"Hey, what were you expecting?", Hazel complained, walking away.

Cynthia kept on looking at her as she walked away. She stayed for a while like that, thinking in both important and trivial things, such as the importance of a bath cream in Hazel's hair, it would look gorgeous after one, in her opinion. But what she needed most was something she could trust into, apart from her. She turned back, but Ares was still in front of his notebook, without paying attention to the outside world. With a deep sigh, the young final year student left the hangar…

* * *

"Cage! Wait a sec…"

The blue haired boy turned back to see who called him, and found Hazel walking in haste in his direction.

"Sure"

"May I talk to you…", the girl said softly, recovering from her hard walk. "It's about Ares…"

"What's the matter with Ares?", Cage asked worried. "Had he done something wrong at the park the other day?"

"Not at all, he's a sun… I mean, he's a good person", Hazel corrected herself quickly, ordering her ideas. "It's just that there's something that worries me about him… Had he ever had some kind of health problems, or something similar?"

Cage stood still, surprised with that question. "Well… I think he doesn't, as far as I know", he replied thoughtfully, while searching in his mind. "Why do you ask?"

"We were at the park the other day, when you and Myona were in another ride, when he started coughing badly. It wasn't something common. He even had to knelt down to feel a bit better, but then, in less than five minutes he was totally okay, as if nothing had ever happened. He didn't want to go to the first aid room, and he told me it was something silly, but I don't like it at all. I think it's his lungs or something like that… Could you speak with him about that, please? You are his best friend, he'll listen to you, I'm sure…"

"Man… you really freeze me with these news…", he said, worried. "I've never seen him like that before… Are you sure it wasn't a cold?"

"No, it looked worse than a cold, I can assure that!", Hazel insisted, puzzling Cage even more, as he never saw her that worried, not even when her home was damaged and she had to move into the Saoshyant. "He coughed hard, and he also breathed heavily. It was something… odd for a normal cold or even a minor lung disease… Will you talk to him, please…"

"I wonder why you worry too much, Hazel. There's no need to. A minor thing like that isn't enough to finish me off", Ares' voice replied from behind, in a mix of seriousness and friendliness.

"Ah…", Hazel whispered, trembling. She turned back, and, effectively, Ares was standing behind, carrying his notebook in one hand. She searched for some feeling in his face, but she could only find that odd simple smile of his, which no one could tell what it really meant.

"Ares!", Cage exclaimed, also surprised. "Why don't you listen to her? You should be ashamed of worrying her like that! What's with those coughs?"

"Nothing, the remnant of a previous cold", he explained, walking to them and standing next to Hazel, who was wishing that the floor would swallow her. He looked at her and said, "Hazel, you should have forgotten about that. There's no need to worry, I already told you"

"You didn't resemble that when you knelt down at the fair!", she replied back, a bit harshly, trying to evade his gaze.

Ares chuckled. "Why do you worry that much?"

Hazel's eyes widened, and look down and in the other direction quickly, before anyone noticed she was blushing. Lightly, but blushing, nonetheless. "I…", she mumbled, thinking in a good answer.

Just then, the alarm started ringing, furiously. An attack, without doubts.

"What happened?", Cage asked Robin as soon as he saw her, despite he already knew what the alarm meant.

"Twede got a strong Metatron signal coming from somewhere. We are going to the hangar and get into the frames, he'll guide us to the 'battlefield'", the light haired leader replied, in haste. "Come on, everybody, we have no time to waste!"

"But… our cookies! They are in the oven!", Semyl protested, dropping her cooking overall behind.

"Twede will switch it off. Now go!", Robin exclaimed annoyed, picking the girl's piece of clothing.

"Saved by the 'gong'", Hazel thought, sighing, while running to her OF…

* * *

"You've just arrived", Twede reported from the Saoshyant to the others, as soon as he got their Metatron signals over the blinking spot in his radar from before.

Thankfully, this time the Metatron signal came from the outskirts of the city, so they wouldn't have to worry about doing any damage to civilian property or civilians themselves.

"What does this mean? A bad joke, or…", Razma wondered, but he was interrupted.

"Or they have an anti-stealth…", Warren completed, but he was interrupted abruptly, and couldn't finish the sentence.

A beam laser hit him from behind, knocking his Durandal II over. Apart from the surprise of the sudden attack, he was really angry at himself, for letting his guard down.

Everyone turned back. A new, giant dark OF was standing behind them. Slim, yet strong, painted in a metallic gray and brown design. It had a humanoid shape, resembling a strong, young person. However, there weren't any distinctive features on it.

"I hadn't supposed you would find it out that soon!", a female, cold voice yelled, sarcastically. "That's what you get for that!"

Of course, everyone could tell who was the runner…

"Ruth! You again?", Cage exclaimed, feeling his blood boiling. That woman was a pain, after all.

Another frame appeared, next to Ruth's. This one also resembled a young person, robust and with huge arms. It was a little shorter compared to Ruth's OF; its color scheme was light, in light yellow and whitish colors.

"I see you already have your fan-club, Ruthie", a male voice joked, ironically.

"Hell! Can you stop calling me like that, Ethan!", the blonde female enemy cursed him, deeply annoyed. "I'm not a child anymore!"

"'Ethan'? So you are new here?", Cage asked, puzzled. "We seem to grow much each week…", he thought, checking Will's control panel, ready to start fighting.

"Just who are you?", Myona asked from the Calibur, sitting next to Robin.

"For whom do you work for!", Warren asked, although he wasn't as gentle as Myona.

"Nice question, isn't it, sis?", Ethan joked, ironically. "What can we tell them?"

"I don't know…", Ruth said, following her brother's trend. "I think there's a suitable phrase for us…"

"Ah, yes!", Ethan chuckled, still ironically. " Freedom to Mars "

Ares swallowed hard, knowing that all the glances would be over him.

The whole BIS gang blood froze, even Hazel and Cynthia stood still for a second. Hazel lowered her head, after opening her eyes wide, due to the surprise; Cynthia whined, Semyl sweated, Razma almost lost his jaw, Mebius frowned… the rest remained petrified, but no one looked at Ares… not in first place.

"Freedom… to Mars", Cage repeated softly, almost syllabicating the words to understand better.

"That can't be! Who the heck are you?", Semyl inquired, really pissed off. She was really tempted to pull the trigger at that same moment.

But someone stole her turn. Ruth's OF got sort of impaled by Hazel's OF, with a single sword attack. Hazel's OF stood there, like matching with its runner, with the light blue haired girl, who was breathing heavily and glaring at the two enemy frames.

"Ruth! Are you ok?", Ethan yelled, astonished. He wasn't the only one.

"Hazel?", Myona whispered, softly.

"Haze… are you alright?", Cynthia asked her cousin worried, calling her by her pet name.

"Look out!", Ares yelled, freezing everybody else. He had been the only one who noticed Ruth's OF moving, but it was too late.

The dark Orbital Frame just kicked and then punched the lighter one, making Hazel fall backwards, hitting the Martian ground. With a soundly laughter, Ruth answered her brother, "Yes, I'm fine. Guess it's show-time"

"As you wish", Ethan smiled grinning, arching his left eyebrow. He clapped his fingers, and as soon as he stopped doing that, hordes of Mummyheads appeared behind them.

"Crap! They decided to stop using the anti-stealth thingy!", Razma cursed, starting his Dreizhen on, and going forward, ready to smashing some Mummyheads.

"Haze! Are you alright!", Cynthia yelled to her cousin, standing next to her, but also keeping an eye on her back.

The fallen OF's runner took her time to answer. After a long, pitiful sigh, she said, "Yes, I'm fine. Go ahead, I'm going"

Her voice was sounding too weak… but Cynthia knew she couldn't do anything for the time being. Instead, she did as her cousin told her, and went straight to battle.

Pain… striking at her again. Once again… for the forgotten time in the last period.

Gentle, yet bitter tears were running across her cheeks, even without her permission.

Laying on the Martian ground, in a strange thing which the others called cockpit… worse, inside an OF… worrying others, who were sending her text messages while battling, as she had closed the camera connection so no one would see her crying…

"It's time…", she whispered, drying up her tears. And so, her OF stood up, crushing a Mummyhead as she did so.

* * *

"This shouldn't be as hard as it seems. They are just Mummyheads", Cage commented, just talking to Ares through a private link. As he hadn't heard any answer from his light haired friend, he looked at the screen. As he had expected, Ares was looking really gloomy.

"Hey, relax", the blue haired boy said, trying to cheer him up. "This isn't your fault. You have nothing to do with them". As Ares' silent was even deeper, he added, "Or so I want to believe"

"Of course not!", the taciturn youth replied back, annoyed. "I have no idea who those ones are", he explained, while launching his Vyaja's Beam Web attack towards a couple of wandering Mummyheads, and killing most of them. "I'm as puzzled as you are, or even more"

"Hey, I hadn't blamed you. I know you wouldn't have returned here if you were planning something like this", Cage replied, attacking with Will's Rusty Cutter imitation of the original Testament.

"And how can you be so sure?"

"Well… you wouldn't commit the same mistake twice", the blue haired youth replied simply, dodging a phallanx attack.

"I… thanks, Cage", Ares whispered, puzzled.

"Hey, had you stopped with that private chat?", Semyl's voice resounded in their OFs. "I wonder what you were talking about…", she added, joking. "Anyway, look who's our new ace, pals!", she exclaimed, pointing with her thumb to their back.

The two frames turned back, and what they saw almost quitted them their breath, as the usually shy, taciturn and not-too-fond-of-combat Hazel was smashing frame after frame, moving at really high velocities. The light gray and blue frame kept on attacking lines and lines of Mummyheads with what Cynthia came to call 'Beam motion' attack: sliding at full-speed, she could attack a line of enemies. And that's what she was doing again and again…

"What the…?", Ares asked, astonished. His eyes were wide opened as he saw her attacking that way.

"Seems she got up quite pissed off, doesn't she?", Razma joked, joining the others. "Well, she has to defend herself well. Those Mummyheads seem to be right after her and her cousin"

And he was incredible right. Further in the other direction, Cynthia was doing the best she could against a big bunch of enemy OFs, and if it weren't for Mebius, Semyl and Myona in the Calibur, the poor student would have already failed miserably.

"I have an idea", Warren commented after getting rid of a Mummyhead. "We have to put the two frames together. The mummyheads will go straight to them and we can help from the outside"

"Nice plan", Razma approved. "I like it. Let's go and kick some more butts!"

"Hey, and what about the other two frames?", Cage asked, looking everywhere for Ruth and Ethan's new frames.

"They are at the back, that's why you can't see them", Yukito explained, kicking an enemy OF. "They look like they will start attacking when we defeat all their minor OFs, which will be never if they keep on coming like that"

"Aha… Well, maybe with Warren's idea we can finish this soon", he hoped, while making a connection with Hazel's OF. "Hazel, can you hear me?"

The light haired girl looked everywhere until she realized where the screen was. "Ah, Cage! Hello again", she sort of greeted tired, now shooting at an upcoming Mummyhead with her OF's 'phantom Metraton gun'. "Do you know when it's gonna end all this?"

"No idea, but we have a plan. Start walking until you met with Cynthia. Supposedly, all the enemy frames will go after both of you, but we'll start firing from the outside"

Hazel thought for a brief second. "Risky… but it may be the only way to end this. I'm going", she said, swtiching off the connection.

"Hey… too late", Cage told himself, as he saw the image went black.

Soon, the cousin's frames were side by side, and, as expected, the enemy Mummyheads –which seemed tougher to defeat- were all going towards them.

"Haze… What are we to do now?", Cynthia asked, softly. She wasn't feeling too comfortable there, and, although she didn't want it to admit, she really wanted to be at her comfortable home, even in her ultra-protective mother's arms, instead of being in the middle of an OF fight, facing death, if things wouldn't work out as planned.

"You are scared, uh?", Hazel replied, with her eyes closed and a small smile in one side of her lips. "Don't worry, you'll return back, and so I'll do. This will just be a bad memory for our grandchildren"

Hazel's comment wasn't much relief for Cynthia.

"Yeah, alright, but if we don't get out from here we won't have children!", she exclaimed, impaling an enemy OF with Carpe's arm sliding lance. "Take that!", she yelled, letting her nerves go away, as she crushed the same enemy again with the green beam lance ant then attacked another.

"Seems you enjoy this when you get used"

"Very funny", the brown haired student complaint, evading a shot with little success. "How do you manage to remain cold and quiet in all this mess?", she asked, as if she had just noticed her cousin's mechanical behavior during combat.

Hazel's eyes widened a little bit, and then she looked down, ashamed. "I don't realize that I look that cold… guess I just accept this as part of my life…"

"Stoicism?", Yukito asked, getting into their conversation.

"Ha, you can say that! She's the perfect stoicist!", Cynthia grinned, much to her discontent. "Hey, what are you doing in our conversation? How rude!"

"Sorry, sorry", the green haired youth apologized, quickly. "I just had to tell you to get ready to 'dance' a bit. You'll have to avoid our missing shots and the unknown Mummyheads ones"

"What? Now I'm sure I won't have any children to talk to!", Cynthia yelled fearfully. She could barely move her OF, so how was he expecting her to avoid all those beam lasers or even missiles without getting hurt, or worse, without dying?

"Ok, we'll handle it" Hazel replied, quietly, making Cynthia feel more nervous with her cold tone of voice.

The two cousin's stood there, back with back, while the others got ready. All the enemy units made a circle around them, and the BIS gang surrounded the unknown force, and started firing. The unmanned units didn't know how to react, as they were being attacked from both front and back, as the cousins started attacking with all their attacks, one after the other. The area was a complete mess of lasers, and it was a blessing that they weren't in a civilian area, or else, the damage would have been enormous.

One by one, the unmanned units started falling, clearing the area. Soon, all the Mummyheads were defeated, and there weren't any traces of upcoming reinforcements.

"We… did it?"

"It seems so", the light blue haired girl replied relieved, trying to make her cousin feel more relaxed. She leaned against her seat, and sighed, letting a small, victorious smile appear in her lips.

"Good work, girls", Robin acknowledged them from the Calibur. "I can see you still are in one piece"

"This is too much, I guess I'm gonna vomit", Cynthia admitted, faintly.

"If you are going to do that, try to avoid doing it at the cockpit", Yukito commented, grinning. "It's really disgusting to clean that later"

"Yuck… now I feel worse!"

Robin giggled. "Guess that now you'll learn to avoid some kind of topics from now on"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!", the girl apologized, annoyed. "Can we return now? I'm feeling fatal"

"Guess there's no other thing to do there, is it? If so, leave the area"

"I'm going…", Cynthia replied, staring her Carpe's 'engine', but was soon stopped by Cage.

"What about the other two OFs? They have to be around…", Cage insisted, worried.

"Oh, Cage! Don't be so meticulous!", the student complained again, now pissed off. "I'm leaving, do what you want…". She started walking some meters, but couldn't go any further because the two missing frames reappeared, a few meters ahead from her.

"So you were planning to go away, little rat?", Ruth's voice asked slowly, with a hint of sarcasm. "I'm afraid you are staying a little bit, my darling", she added, getting her OF ready and rehearsing a possible battle pose, crossing her OFs arms and standing with her OF's leg quite separated from each other, forming a triangle.

Mebius frowned. "And Twede thought that Cynthia was childish…"

"Be quiet, for you are next to die!", Ruth silenced the blonde BIS member rudely, pointing with her arm to somewhere else but the Orchrist. Surely, she was intending to look like a girl-show heroine, but she was failing more than miserably.

"Ruth… can you stop with that nonsense?", her brother Ethan asked simply, ashamed. "You are doing it really bad, you know"

"Hmph!", she moaned, annoyed. "Great, let's go down to work, if so!", she added, running at full-speed at the cousins' frames.

The girls moved their OFs in opposite directions, just in time to avoid being knocked over by the brownish frame. Instead, Ruth ended up quite far from the group.

"Nice escape", Ethan congratulated. "Let's see what you are capable of"

He also went against them, quickly, although a bit slower than his reckless sister. With his OF's apparent fists closed, he charged against Hazel, and managed to hit her, making her loose her balance and stealing some of her energy.

"What I expected", he added, looking at the light haired girl's frame. "You are no match to us, even with that frame"

Much to his surprise, she managed to fire her gun at him repeated times, also making him to lose his balance and fall down. "Never underestimate a woman, my unknown opponent", she said sarcastically and solemnly, charging at him with her beam sword.

"Haze! Look out!", Cynthia yelled, noticing Ruth's frame charging against her cousin. Luckily, she was stopped by Cage and his Will's Beam Arrow attack, stopping her from the back. The blonde woman wasn't going to stay passive at an offensive like that, so her brother would have to wait and defend himself, as she had now another target to attack…

The rest of the BIS group splitted, half attacking Ethan, the rest charging against Ruth. Only Cynthia was passive, staring like hypnotized at Carpe's screen, which was blinking quickly, as a sign that something wasn't fine.

"Cynthia, are you ok? Hang on, we are going!", Myona said all of a sudden, rushing to her side. She thought she wasn't moving due to either lack of energy or HP. But it wasn't the case.

Finally, her frame's screen became clear again, revealing two unknown names to her.

"Castor? Polux?"

The siblings' stopped attacking and turned back to face Cynthia.

Ruth grinned. "Well, you found us out, finally"

"We thought it was going to take you less time"

"What the hell does this mean?", Semyl inquired, running out of patience. "Cynthia, how did you know about that?"

"I… I'll explain later"

"Oh, poor little one! She's scared!", Ruth went on with her sarcasm. "Why don't you let Castor, the horseman –well, the horsewoman in this case- to take you to a safe place, like… the Underworld?", she added, faking a gentle tone which grew into a darker one as she spoke.

Cynthia stood there, trying to move her OF as she saw the siblings charging against her. She couldn't make it work. It was like petrified.

"Why can't I move this?", she thought in despair. Her hands were sweating, as well as her face, and it made it more difficult to handle the OF, which seemed like dead.

"Cynthia, why can't you move?", Hazel asked angrily, rushing to her. Her cousin had already been hit twice by the siblings, and she wasn't doing anything to prevent another attack. Right then, Pollux, Ethan's frame, sliced hers with a beam sword.

"Damn! As if it were that easy! I can't do it!", the brown haired student replied back, pissed off. "Isn't it obvious!"

"Oh, great! Hang on!"

"Ha, nice answer! You can repeat it again!", Cynthia sighed, desperately.

Hazel's OF went next to her petrified cousin's one, and activated its crimson-lighted shield, protecting them both as she tried to push Carpe, with no success.

Meanwhile, Ruth and Ethan kept attacking, trying to penetrate the shield, while dodging –or trying to- the other's attacks. Mebius managed to stop Ruth with the Elfin Bow, and Ethan was about to run the same fate, until…

"Alright, Dioscuri, alright", Marrek Pith's voice called, satisfied. "All for today. Don't push your luck and retreat right now"

"Fine", Ethan replied, as his OFs beam sword disappeared.

"But… we can do better…", Ruth complainted, both angrily and disappointed.

"Ruth, don't complain. We are off", her brother told her, already flying North.

"If there's no other way…", the blonde runner mumbled annoyed, joining her brother without looking back, although she would have liked to throw a menace like before, but she was banned to do it.

And so, the BIS gang found themselves alone in the middle of the Martian nowhere… 

* * *

Cage was the last one to get out from his frame. They had just arrived from the battlefield, and now it was turn for one of the most boring –or interesting, depends on how you look at it- parts of the battle: battle analysis. He frowned at the only thought of it. He was just wanting to rest a while and hang out with Myona and maybe Ares, but he knew that would have to wait.

"Seems you are getting used to Will, aren't you?", Myona asked, with a hint of melancholy.

"Maybe yes, maybe not", he answered back, embracing her.

"Well… it wasn't going to be a regular fight with all those Mummyheads around", Mebius commented, leaning against her Orcrist.

"Not at all… although I'm still thinking in that name… 'Dioscuri'… I find it familiar, somehow…", Yukito agreed, searching in his mind for that term.

"Greek Mythology", Cynthia replied, seriously. "Castor and Pollux were called the 'Dioscuri'. Both of them, with their sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, were product of one of Zeus' 'affairs' with Leda, Queen of Sparta and Tyndareus' wife. He took the form of a swan to seduce her and she gave birth to all those children. Clytemnestra and Castor were considered Tyndareus' sons and Pollux and Helen, Zeus' ones, although many sources take both of them as sons of Zeus, which is what 'Dioscuri' stands for", the young student retold, puzzling more than one person with her knowledge on Greek mythology. She could bet that most of the BIS members thought she was only interested in shopping mall sales. "Zeus used the form of a swan to get closer to her because she wouldn't notice any other man besides her husband, but many people say that he used that disguise to rape her and leave her pregnant. But you know, those are old myths..."

"Disgusting", Mebius frowned, annoyed. "Those old myths… those Gods are all a bunch of perverts. Zeus was a 'ladies man' and his wife's 'hobby' was taking revenge against any female he just saw. Everyone enjoyed applying heavy punishments over the weak ones. Aphrodite used to go out with any male she came across…"

"That last one reminds me of someone but in a MALE version…", Semyl commented mischievously, looking at Razma by the corner of her eye.

"Hey, I'm not like that!", Razma cried, annoyed.

"I hadn't even mentioned your name!", Semyl said, innocently.

"But I know you are referring to me! It's obvious!"

"As I was saying", Mebius went on, smiling; "She would fix her eyes in any boy she found, but would do ANYTHING to prevent women to be as beauty as she supposedly was… And the list goes on, further and further on…"

"That was the good thing in Mythology", Yukito grinned back. "Gods had too many human aspects, after all. They loved, they hated and they took revenge against them or against humans for either their greed or some 'personal affair'"

"But they were cruel…"

"Right as humans are…", Hazel added, at the right moment, thoughtfully.

Everyone nodded, agreeing with her.

"We all agree with that", Warren said, summing up. "But now tell me, Cynthia, how do you know about Mythology?". He was really amazed by the girl's knowledge on the subject, but he couldn't figure out from where she got it.

Cynthia smiled, proudly. "I learnt it at school. It has to be the only thing I enjoy of it, because the rest is pure nonsense and stupid propaganda. Apart from that, it's like reading the yellow news and the 'heart-magazines' from many millennia ago, of a bunch of people who believed in that!", she exclaimed highly enthusiastic, grinning broadly with her eyes shut.

At that answer, Twede let go a resigned sigh. She was disappointing him even and even more, if there was another 'more' in his 'attitude rating'.

"Fine", Robin said a bit bored by the Mythological chat. "Cynhia, I noticed you are having some troubles with your OF…"

"Yes, it's odd, because I could handle it better before"

"And you couldn't move it later"

"Exactly! I don't know what happened. And then it showed the 'Dioscuri' names in my screen…"

"That's fishy", Cage got in the conversation. "Hazel, did you had something like that?"

The light haired girl thought for a while. "No. I guess that I hadn't", she answered, still thoughtfully. "Really, I can't recall something like that happening in my unnamed frame"

"And then you couldn't move it…", Robin analyzed, rubbing her chin, thing that meant that she was really clueless about something.

"Could it be that it doesn't like her?", Myona asked, thinking in Testament for some reason. She couldn't criticize Pharsti about her choosing Cage as her runner… it was a part of herself after all.

"Maybe…"

"What? Is it something with my Zodiac?", the young student asked puzzled, making leave Twede the room right away, sick of her responses. "Hey, what's going on with him?", she asked, even more puzzled than before.

"Don't pay attention to him, he's like that", Mebius told her, giggling.

"It has nothing to do with that", Robin answered, trying to remain calm. "It's something odd to explain, even to find out, but there's a chance that OFs can select their runners, or that once they were run by one, they stick to it, and reject or don't work well with other runners. But that's just an hypothesis. Metatron is a great mystery, after all…"

"Worse than women", Yukito grinned, thinking in one of the chats they had the other day.

"Don't start again, or she'll kill me right now…", Razma begged, walking away from Semyl slightly, without her noticing, but he failed. However, she didn't go after him. She decided to give him a break, in appearance.

"Uh, oh!", Hazel said, looking at her watch. "Come on, Cinderella, it's time to leave", she told her cousin, picking her jean jacket, which was laying in the floor next to her feet.

"Hey, why now?", Cynthia whined, angrily.

"Because if you stay more here, you'll arrive later to your home and I'll end up like a smashed pumpkin if your mother finds out", she explained, as if it were necessary. "You know that I'm not a good influence for you, in her opinion"

"But… alright. I wouldn't like to eat you at lunch time"

"That's the way I like things to work!", the jean clad girl joked, gaining a glare from her student cousin.

"Hazel!", Robin called, as she was walking her way to the exit.

"Uh?"

"What happened that you started attacking as you never had?"

Hazel blushed a brief second, then she replied, "I guess that I wanted to finish with all that…"

"Does the phrase 'Freedom to Mars' mean anything to you?", Myona asked, shyly.

Everyone froze, but nobody dared to look back at Ares, who just stayed where he was, leaning against the wall.

"No… I don't think so…", she replied quickly.

"And you, Cynthia?"

Cynthia took more time to answer back. "I… I can't recall what was exactly…"

Hazel look at her watch again. "Sorry, but it was all? We can go on talking when I return, but I have to take her really quickly if I don't want to bring trouble…"

"No, sure, go ahead", Robin said, waving at them.

The two cousins left the room, but those seconds they took looked like an eternity for the rest of the BIS gang. Razma sighed relieved when he heard the sound of the door closing, for some reason.

"Myona, why had you asked them that question?", Robin asked curiously, and not understanding why, of all the members of BIS, she was the one who asked about their knowledge on the infamous phrase.

The purple haired girl shrugged. "I don't know. Well, I know. Hazel started attacking after she heard that, so I thought there was some connection, but she may be sick of this situation and wanted to finish everything as soon as possible"

"Now that you mention it, you are right. But I can barely see any other link between her and that", Robin said, thoughfully.

"Maybe she was part of BAHRAM once, or she got her life spoiled by them", Mebius suggested, shrugging. "Or maybe they even aren't part of BAHRAM, and they are using their infamous signature quote", she kept on proposing, realizing that "Freedom to Mars" originally belonged to BAHRAM, as some kind of battle-cry.

"It's quite factible that we may be facing BAHRAM once more", Twede analized. "Their equipment matches with BAHRAM stuff..."

"It's too early to say that", Yukito interrupted him. "Unless we see some more frames, we can't certainly tell if it's BAHRAM or not"

"Don't mind me. It was a supposition, nothing for real", Myona insisted, now feeling guilty for making the others think that Hazel could have been a BAHRAM rebel.

"Well, if you say so…", Robin concluded, giving up. "Well, guess it's time for a well-gained rest. Se you later", she said, walking into the main room, so she would end up in her room.

The rest either got up from the floor or left their comfortable places against their OFs or the wall. Ares got up quickly and started walking towards the main room, but his sister call him.

"Yes?", he asked, not turning around.

"You don't have anything to do with them, do you?", she asked, shyly. "I don't distrust you, but…"

"You want to be sure", he filled in, coldly.

Myona nodded, blushing and feeling ashamed of having so little trust in her brother.

"I don't know them", he replied, turning to face her and all the others. He was rather surprised by the faces he saw: curiosity, anxiety, tiredness… but no hints of regret or distrust towards him. He was expecting another kind of reaction. "I just had contact with Jimmer and Amante, and with some other people, a few, but not with those two. At all"

His voice was getting colder as he spoke, making Myona feel even more guilty than what she was feeling with her own torturing conscience alone.

"Ares, it's alright, we are not blaming you", Mebius tried to calm him down, speaking softly. "You wouldn't do that, not again with the same people in the worst of cases; and I think that no one of us think that you can turn to the 'bad side' again"

Ares sighed, relaxing a little. "I'm sorry", he apologized, rubbing his eyes. "It's just that I'm tired, and I'm being a bit over defensive, and I have no clue about who they are or how the hell they found out… I guess I'm in an almost critical state…"

"You should try and relax a bit!", Semyl offered, cheerfully. "If ya' avoid thinking too much for a while, ya'll see things different"

"So that's why you never think, isn't it like that?", Razma shot back, sarcastically.

"You!", Semyl glared at him, really angered. She was about to punch him in the stomach as revenge, but she remembered something more worthy of her attention than Razma's pain: the cookies she was making with Myona before the battle.

"Ahh! The cookies!", she cried in despair. "Come, Myona, we have to see their state!", she went on yelling, grabbing the purple haired girl's hand and rushing to the kitchen so fast that she didn't had time to apologize to her brother.

"There they go", Mebius giggled, watching the two girls in haste. "They are quite some characters…"

"We are all quite some characters", Yukito added, leaving the hangar.

"Mmh… you may be right. But the cutest here is our little Lia", the blonde woman replied back, getting into the main room, also.

* * *

Someone knocked the door to Hazel's room.

The gray-eyed girl was laying in her bed when she heard that sound. Unluckily for her, she was about to get asleep. Rubbing her eyes, she told whoever knocked her door to come in.

"Hi", Myona greeted her again, walking into the room. "Were you sleeping?"

"Nope", Hazel lied, trying to look as awake as she could. "What happened?"

"Nothing, really. I just wanted to ask you about the other day's…"

"Forced date?"

Myona looked down a bit embarrassed.

"It was Cage's idea", she explained, shyly. "I didn't know he had invited him, so I'm as puzzled as you are, and I didn't want it to turn out as it did. Sorry if it made you feel bad"

Hazel smiled. "Don't worry. It wasn't that terrible. Ares is a good guy…"

"Hey! You are having a girls' chat and you hadn't count me in?", Semyl asked, showing her head through the door, which Myona forgot to close properly.

"Come in, it's alright", Hazel invited her, giggling. "Hey, Myona, you too take a seat. Don't wait for me to tell you, I'm a terrible host"

"The cushion's mine!", Semyl claimed, grabbing the big cushion that was laying in the ground. Myona had to sit in the little sofa.

"You were saying that Ares what?", the red haired girl started again, with the little info she caught in the corridor.

"That he was a good person"

"Aha. We already knew that", Semyl ticked off mentally. "Well, that was like a sort of date, so… how does he kiss?"

"Semy!", Myona let go that exclamation against her will, caught by the surprise.

Hazel blushed, looking almost like Semyl's hair. "I… I haven't kissed him!", she replied back, both embarrassed and coldly, at the defensive.

"So he's the shy type… well, that earns him some points, but he loses others…"

"Semy, you are talking of him as if he were a thing…", Myona reminded her, looking her by the corner of her eye.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry…", the red haired youth apologized, much to her disappointed, as this was a great opportunity to get data about Ares.

"I barely know him, and I wouldn't kiss him while I'm staying here. I wouldn't be able to look at him naturally, I guess…", Hazel said, as a way to conclude that part of the chat. "Enough of this. What about your cookies?"

Semyl and Myona looked at each other, resigned.

"Burnt", Semyl said, opening the little tupper she had in her hands. "They just needed a little more of cooking, in appearance, but when we switched it off, well… we found them a bit hard to eat. Wanna try one?"

"They can't be that bad…", the light haired girl said, picking one. "Well, they could taste better, but it's ok"

"Great, do you want, Myona?"

"Well, if we don't eat them, then who will?", Myona shrugged, resigned.

And so, the three youths kept on eating the poor, little burnt cookies…

* * *

* * *

Author notes…

The series I was making reference to in Cynthia and Hazel's chat is "Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach" (Legend of the Love Legend Wedding Peach). It's a 'magical girl' anime series (and what does this have to do with ZoE? Almost nothing… wait, the series has a 'Romeo and Juliet' story, and that would apply –loosely- in ZoE, with Earthling and Martians, IMO… hahaha). It's the story of Momoko, your typical cute-clumsy teenage girl, who finds out that she really is Wedding Peach, the legendary angel of Love. Her two friends Yuri and Hinagiku, are also Love Angels, Angel Lily and Angel Daisy, respectively. Later on the series a fourth angel appears, Angel Salvia (Scarlet). They all fight against Rein Devilla (Queen Devil in french?) and her minions, in order to protect both the human world and the angel world of falling in their hands. Well, guess that's enough. Comically, enough, I haven't seen the series yet, nor I have read the mangas! I came across it by accident and read the chapters synopsis and I think it's quite original, even if people call it a bad Sailor Moon rid-off (thing that I don't agree with; I think that Momoko is much prettier than stupid Serena/Usagi – yes, I can barely stand her, and I had never fully watched Sailor Moon! Anyway, that's my opinion, and nobody has to agree with it P). Back on topic, "Twin Swords" is Angel Salvia's attack in 'Wedding Peach DX' (four volume OVA series, takes place after the TV series), "Saint Pure Sword" is, again, Angel Salvia's attack, this time in the regular series. "Wedding Graceful Flower" are Yuri's transformational words. "Crimson shield" and "Green Lance" are 'cameos' from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken P. About the girls' personalities, Momoko is the classic clumsy-cute-head in the clouds-protagonist; Yuri is the elegant, fashion fan, polite girl; Hinagiku is the tomboyish one and Scarlet is the cold, distant one. I still don't know why I left this part in the story (now that I'm doing the revision -slowly, but I'm doing it!- I realize this). Guess I left it because it was there and it was like a small bond between Hazel, Cynthia and their past... who knows, it's still there

You can also notice that I'm a fan of Greek Mythology Sorry if I've been quite technical about it or if I forgot important things, I tried to do my best to keep that one short.


	11. Family Issues

﻿Chapter 11: "Family Issues"

"Breakfast ready!!", Semyl yelled from the Saoshyant's tiny kitchen door, calling the rest of the group. With her shout, even people living in some lost Antarctic base back at Earth came to know that the food was ready.

"You don't need to shout that much, ya' know", Razma told her, sleepily, while he was coming into the main room.

"Oh, shut up and carry this!", she replied, almost pushing him backwards when she gave him a tray with various cups, bread and coffee on it.

"You really need someone", he mumbled angrily while going to the main room, where some of the others already were.

"I've heard you, you moron!!", she yelled back, throwing her overall towards him, but it fall near her.

"What's all that noise?", Robin asked, highly pissed off, when she got into the main room. Just then, Semyl got in, playing innocently and whistling sweetly, thing that earned her a glare from the fire haired boy.

"You should try to avoid shouting like that", Mebius complained, frowning. "I can't understand how Lia is still sleeping after all that mess"

"She's not the only one", Warren said, getting himself some coffee. "Hazel hasn't showed up yet"

"Seems I won't have to clean the dishes today", Yukito grinned, as he entered fast and sat down in haste. He had been the last one to get up for breakfast for quite some time in the last few weeks, and he was quite relieved with Hazel being late, as he wouldn't be the blank of jokes, at least for that day.

"Miracle!", Robin joked, sipping some of her coffee. "What did you do to get up this 'early'?"

"I still don't know…", he said, picking a toast and looking for the jam, which was now in Cage's hands. "I must be feeling bad…", he said, taking his own temperature with his hand on his forehead.

"Hi", Hazel greeted everybody, still sleepily. Yawning, she made her way to the table.

"You sure are still asleep!", Semyl said, cheerfully. "What happened? A bad night's sleep?"

"Not at all", the gray eyed girl replied, grabbing a toast. "I slept well, indeed. I can't understand why I'm still half asleep…"

"Well, cleaning the dishes will wake you up", Yukito said, biting his toast.

"Uh?", Hazel mumbled, raising an eyebrow and looking at him oddly.

Robin glared at him. "Forgive him for that statement", she apologized for him quickly. "We have the norm that the last one who comes for breakfast has to clean the dishes. As he had been doing that for the last two weeks and a half, he's quite touched that his long spell of bad luck is over", she explained, giggling.

"Thanks for saying all that", Yukito 'thanked' her, ironically.

"You are welcome", Robin replied sort of solemnly, sipping her sugar free coffee, before she smiled at him, jokingly.

"It's alright", Hazel said, naturally. "I was wondering why I never had to clean the dishes after breakfast, after all"

"Well, being the first time, someone can help you", Mebius offered, but was interrupted by the light haired youth.

"No, thank you", she stopped her coldly. "The fact that I'm the newest one here doesn't give me any privileges, so I'll do as everybody else does. I can handle that stuff all by myself", she explained, picking the strawberry jam while she said that.

"Ok… if you say so", Mebius said, sort of intimidated.

"Sorry if I was rude, Meb", Hazel apologized quickly, without any change in her tone of voice. "It wasn't my intention to be mean to you"

"It was alright", Mebius replied, smiling. She was now happy that the new girl finally called her by her pet name, considering her always cold behavior. "Eat you breakfeast and rest easy"

* * *

"I can handle this stuff all by myself… if this wasn't a battalion's meal", Hazel thought ironically, looking at the big mess of plates, cups and spoons scattered all around the kitchen, waiting for her to clean them. "I should have accepted Mebius' help after all… stupid, stubborn girl!", she went on, angry with herself. With a sigh, she opened the tab and started cleaning the first dishes she had next to her.

"Do you need some help?", Razma's voice asked from the door, helpfully.

Hazel turned back and found, indeed, the fire haired youth leaning against the door, with his arms crossed over his head, with that 'never-falling' smile in his lips.

She smiled lightly. "You are at the highest level of boredom to offer your help?", she asked, sort of resigned.

"Hey, it's not like that! I came to do socials", he said, coming into the kitchen and passing her a pair of cups. "Is that wrong?"

"Not at all!", she defended herself, quickly. "It's just that I'm not that used to that…"

"So you've been a loner for all your life?", Razma asked interested.

"Not exactly… I'm used to working alone and things like that", she said, grabbing some more detergent. "Team work was never my highest point"

"So you've always been a loner"

Hazel rose an eyebrow. "Haven't I told you? Not a loner, 'per se', maybe just alone…", she said, whispering the last part of her sentence, closing her eyes as she said that.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry", he apologized, feeling some guilt. "Let's talk about some other thing… plans for the future?"

Now, Hazel giggled lightly. "You seem a foreign language teacher, trying to make your students practice their speaking skills", she said, smiling lightly. "Is it that you are too curious about everything?"

"Well, I just want to know more about another comrade… you are quite a mystery, girl"

"Ejem… cough, cough", someone, a female voice, coughed from the door.

Razma's blood froze for an instant, before turning back, because he had a certain feeling about who could it be. And when he turned back, he knew he wasn't wrong.

"Semyl!", Hazel greeted her, friendly. "What's the matter?", she asked then, worried, when she saw the girl frowning.

"Nothing with you", she told her, trying to sound polite. "In what concerns you, Razma…", she said, her frown turning into a glare.

"Not again!", he moaned, annoyed.

He would have tried to escape, but he knew he had already lost. Semyl intercepted him first, grabbing his arm tightly and made him leave the kitchen, just as a mother would have done with a disobedient child. It wasn't that difficult to imagine what was coming next, so Hazel returned to the basin, to go on with her chores.

"Seems you were left alone, uh?"

Hazel turned back, this time quickly, as hit by a thunder. She couldn't help smiling lightly, although she didn't want to be so evident.

Ares was leaning against the door, with his arms folded, and walked to her when she turned back, with that characteristic, shy smile of his on his face.

"What are you doing here?", she asked, looking down at the basin, while she picked a plate. "Do I look so desperate in the kitchen?", she asked, shrugging.

"I came to help", he said, drying up one of the cups that were already clean. "I saw that Semyl came here and then left with Razma, so I supposed you would need some help to finish with all this", he explained, naturally.

Hazel chuckled lightly, as if she wanted to pass unnoticed. "You hadn't called Semyl before, had you?", she asked, softly. She had been quite hesitant about asking that, as she could pass as arrogant, but she was going to stay with the doubt, after all.

Ares didn't reply, but went on drying up the dishes. "Of course not", he finally said, naturally.

Hazel giggled. "I thought so… Men are impossible", she said, funnily. She didn't believe in what he had just said, after all.

"And what's the matter?", Ares asked, defending himself. "She found him and thought he may be disturbing you, or I don't know what she thought… I passed along here and I wasn't going to leave you alone with all this"

"I can cope with this, thank you"

"But you would need much more time to finish with all this"

"Hey, I would have never expected this!", Razma whispered to the others, surprised. Next to him, clutched next to the door were Cage and Myona, and now Semyl and Razma joined them, highly surprised of what they found.

"I guess no one expected this…", Semyl added, astonished. "So this is a more relaxed Ares…", she thought, sort of saddened. She just wished she could be in Hazel's place, with all her heart.

"Shh! Be quiet, or they'll notice us!", Cage turned back annoyed, chisting at the red haired couple.

"I tell you, I can handle this myself!", Hazel went on, avoiding his gaze for some reason.

"I also tell you that I have nothing better to do!", Ares replied, putting all the cups in the cupboard. "See? We are almost finished"

Indeed, they were. Hazel was cleaning the last plate, and with that, they were over.

She switched off the tap quickly. "Both you and Razma needn't have done this", she said, turning back to clean her hands with the small piece of cloth Ares was using to dry up the dishes. "But thanks, anyway"

"It was nothing", he said, handing the piece of cloth over to her.

Silently and slowly, she dried her hands, staring at them and as if she were counting her fingers as she did that. Thoughtfully, she handed it over back to him.

"Are you alright?", he asked her, concerned.

She looked up again, quickly. "Yes, I'm fine… why?", she asked, normally.

"I don't know… you stayed silent for a while…"

"Ah, never mind… that's usual in me", she said, doubtfully, as if it were the first excuse that came to her mind.

"I thought something was wrong", he explained, back to normal, while he put the plates in their place. "Well, guess this was all", he said, looking at her. "See you later", he said, a bit awkwardly, heading to the door.

Just as he said that, the four youths clutched against the wall started sweating and moving in some sort of despair…

"Yes…", Hazel whispered, looking as he passed next to her.

"Hey, what are you doing there?", Mebius asked surprised to Cage, Myona, Semyl and Razma when she entered that hallway. She was going to get some milk for Lia at the kitchen, and she found all of them sort of crawling along the corridor.

"Nothing", Cage said quickly, getting up.

Just in time. Hazel and Ares got out from the kitchen, and they saw Semyl and Razma still arguing at the end of the hallway, Cage and Myona standing next to the main room's door, and Mebius near the kitchen. With a single wave, Hazel left the hallway, not suspecting anything, and Ares went to the Main Room, with the idea of getting into his room.

"Aha… Now I understand", Mebius said, chuckling, after Ares was out of sight, and before getting into the kitchen.

"We barely did it", Razma sighed relieved. "And they hadn't noticed"

"Now… in what was I?", Semyl asked, looking innocently. "Ah, yes… now I remember", she said, her apparent calm face turned into one of hatred. "I was about to deal some things with Razma…".

She grabbed his arm tighter and, while he kept on yelling her to leave him at ease, she dragged him into the one of the rooms.

* * *

"This is dead boring… I just wished I was somewhere else but here", Cynthia thought, while yawning.

Leaning against a really nice, comfortable chair, and swinging in it up and down, she took a look at her classmates and partners in a Martian Economy project. Nobody would notice she was analyzing everyone there (except herself), as they were all quite interested –or so they tried to seem- in what a long, fire red haired girl was saying, which was just a nonsense (in Cynthia's opinion) gossip chat.

She stared first at her bench companion, the light blonde with shades of green-haired Meredy. "Meredy… she's already spoiled. After all, she was the one who told Mom about BIS… If she hadn't said a word, my parents wouldn't be so mad at Hazel, and they wouldn't be after me all the time… I thought she had something under her hair, but… seems I was completely wrong", she thought, feeling pity for the girl.

"Aretha…", she thought, now facing the talkative bright red haired student, who now was talking enthusiastically about another course girl, and her 'hot' boyfriend. "She's been like this since… I met her. Goodness, she really scared me when I first met her! I'm still afraid she works for the Martian Intelligence Office or for the UNSF, she seems to know everything about anyone… It's strange that she hadn't asked me about BIS yet… maybe Meredy isn't that spolied… or she just learnt to keep her mouth wide shut"

"Matt…", she said, biting her lip, annoyed. Now, a blackish (black with shades of dark violet) haired boy was talking, now about some girl's measures. "He has his brain in his pants, if he ever had one… I wonder if he prepares his jokes or they come out spontaneously… He's a real idiot…"

She turned to her right, where her last companion was. A brown-haired guy, with his longish hair tied up in a tiny ponytail and an incipient beard was sitting, laughing at the other's comments. He had some slight Latin features, delated by his name, mostly. Cynthia rose an eyebrow, tired.

"Elian… a mystery, but another stupid nonetheless… Is it that boys are just stupid at this age? Sometimes he seems a thoughtful person, and he spoils it at the next instant… Anyway, boys are a necessary bad thing, as auntie Elaine used to said", she went on with her mental ranting, thinking in her only aunt and smiling at that. "Of course, she grabbed uncle Nat's arm and got embraced by him every time she said that, and in what concerns me… I have no arm to grab", she thought, somewhat bitterly.

"And what do you think, Cynthia?", Aretha asked her, highly curious about her opinion.

"About what?", Cynthia replied, disturbed. Again, her thoughts were spoiled by some trivial question… and that was really annoying for her.

"Don't tell me you weren't listening to what we were speaking?", she asked, scandalized. "In what were you thinking off, instead?"

"About your boyfriend?", Matt asked, stupidly. "He can't be better looking that what I am, nor he can't have a better sense of humor"

Cynthia looked up, as begging for more patience. "First, I have no boyfriend, and you all know that", she said, coldly and enumerating her points with her fingers. "Second, I have better taste, thank you. Third, who the hell told you that you were pretty?! Your mother? Fourth... do you believe that you have a sense of humor?!"

Meredy and Elian chuckled at that, and Aretha tried to look behaved, even though she was burning with laughter inside; but that was her, she never wanted to look rude, or some of her 'investigated ones' would react badly and wouldn't talk to her anymore.

"What's the funny thing here?", Matt asked, annoyed and glaring at Elian. "You are supposed to be on my side"

"Not when reality is found out", the Latin descent boy replied, trying to stop laughing.

"Alright… you are missing this Adonis", he said, acting offended.

"For what I'm missing…", Cynthia went on, ironically. "Go and find your Aphrodite!"

"As if you were pretty!", Matt counter-attacked, angry that a 'mere common, ordinary girl' called him ugly. "You have nothing to be proud of, you know…", he said, looking at her from head to toe.

Cynthia blushed, and looked at herself. Average built, nothing out of the ordinary, indeed. She felt her little ego touched and hurt with that remark. "And what were you expecting?!", she asked him, now really angry. "I'm a student, not a porn star! Stop looking at those things, that you are losing the idea about how the real world looks like!"

Saved by the bell, again. Her cell-phone started ringing, playing a slow, characteristic tune. But there was something odd. The rest kept on listening at the tune, trying to find out which one was. It was a strange tune for them, the main theme for a late twentieth-century sci-fi movie, about a time machine in the form of a car and the adventures a normal guy lived with it, changing past and future. Cynthia, instead, was blushing, looking desperately for it in her bag. Finally, she found it, deep down.

"Aye?", she answered, calming herself down. She rolled her eyes when she heard her mother's voice at the other point of the line. "Aye, Mom, I'm alright", she replied, annoyed. "Is it that you have no faith in me anymore? I'm here, preparing a project for Economy… aye, I'll be home early, I promise… yeah, yeah. Bye, Mom…", she went on, tired, and turning her back towards her mates, who found out the tune and were laughing indiscretely about it. "What? That I should go now? Aye, I'm going", she said quickly, as if she were in a great hurry and the she hanged it up.

She turned back again, now to face her companions while leaving the little cell-phone inside her bag.

"What?", she asked, annoyed, while the others kept on chuckling.

"You can't have that tune as a ring-tone", Aretha said, biting her lips to avoid some laughter. "It's quite old, don't you think?"

"And now you'll tell us that you like Marty", Matt said, between his laughs.

Cynthia glared at him. "I don't like Marty!", she cried, putting her things in her bag. "And what's with that tune? I really like 'Back to the Future'!"

"But it's… ancient", Meredy said, thinking in the right adjective.

"It may be, but I still like those old movies", she replied back, picking her blazer.

"Hey, are you leaving?", Elian asked, noticing that she was ready to leave. He had been looking at the whole situation silently.

"Aye", Cynthia replied, again with that Scottish dialect word, which was now becoming part of her natural speech, although her parents and none of her few relatives were Scottish. "Since we aren't going any further with the project, I'm leaving. My mother asked me to return soon, so I could help her with I don't know what thing", she explained, while checking she had everything. "Aye, I'm ready. Meredy, can you open the door for me?"

The light blonde girl nodded, picking her keys. After all, she was the host, so she had to go and open the door to let her go. She returned rather quickly, and sat down with a sigh.

"She's really strange this days…", Aretha said, trying to catch some information in the subtle way.

But no one replied. Meredy just shrugged, and Elian did the same, although he really had no idea about the white hairband girl's business, while Meredy had a slight one.

"She may be after some boyfriend", Matt said, throwing an answer. "If not, she should find one. She really needs it"

Meredy sighed, this time annoyed. "Is it that you can't think in anything else? Then you say that we, women, are the ones that think in boyfriends all the time"

"Well, you think about books, and the other girls at school think about boys", Matt replied, making reference to Meredy's bookworm reputation.

The bondish-greenish haired student glared at him, annoyed.

"She's right", Elian said, picking his things. "Sometimes I think that you are gay", he added, picking his coat.

"Hey! You are supposed to be on my side!", the dark haired youth cried.

"Please, change your phrases. You had already said that before", the brown haired boy replied, putting his rucksat over his left shoulder. "Meredy?"

"What? Are you also leaving?", she asked, tired. He should have decided that when Cynthia left. Now, she had to go to the door again… and she was feeling so lazy.

"Yup. We are doing nothing here, so I'm gonna waste my time in another thing, somewhere else"

"I see", Meredy replied, looking for the front door keys. "What about you two? Are you also leaving?"

Aretha and Matt looked at each other, thoughtfully.

"We are staying a little bit", she replied, smiling. "If it doesn't bother you, of course"

"I can't kick you out", Meredy replied, tiredly. "I'm returning in no time", she said, while Elian waved at them, without much enthusiasm.

"Do you think that those two…", Aretha started saying, her dark eyes shinning brightly at the verge of having a new gossip.

"That they can match together? Well, maybe…", Matt replied, but then he remained thoughtfully for a couple of seconds. "Wait a minute, who are those two? Cynthia and Elian, or Meredy and Elian?"

Aretha moaned angrily.

"Who left before?", she asked, with little patience. "I was referring to Cynthia and Elian!"

"Ah, all right", her companion replied, nodding. "Well, who knows. In that case… poor Elian", he said, laughing at the end of his sentence.

* * *

Knock, knock.

Ares looked back from the book he had been reading until then. As no one came in, he yelled whoever was behind the door to enter.

The door opened, and Myona came in, looking shyly at her brother's room.

"M… Sis", he said, awkwardly. "What a nice surprise…", he added, shyly.

"Are you alright?", she asked, smiling and sitting down next to him, in his bed.

"Yes… and you?"

"Fine, thanks…", she replied, staring at one of the walls.

A long, sad silence filled the door, as both of the siblings kept silent, looking at different sides of the room, feeling like two strangers. Too many things have happened, hurting their feelings, altering their personalities. None of them knew if they could return to what they once were, in those dark, sad times. And that doubt, along with another doubt, the uncertain feeling about how they had grown up in that time they were separated, was like a silent menace, a sly killer of their trust in each other…

"What are we to do now, sis?", he asked, cutting the cold silence in the room, with a hint of nostalgia in his voice.

"I… I wish… I knew…", she replied, sobbing.

Ares faced her, and the image of his sister, his little sister, crying was like another cold knife cutting him. He embraced her tightly, trying to calm her down.

"My… Sis…", he corrected himself, cursing himself at the same instant he attempted to call her 'Myona'. "… everything will be fine… Just don't cry anymore"

"I also wish I could", she replied, drying up her tears. "Just who are we now?", she asked him, in despair.

Ares' blood froze, surprised by that question. He had tried to avoid asking himself that, but it was something he eventually had to face. But he wasn't expecting that doubt from his sister. He was pretty sure that she already knew who she was now… It looks like he was wrong this time.

"You… are you", he replied, awkwardly. "You are my little sister, and my best friend's sweetheart", he added, trying to look calm, although he was also in despair, at heart.

"I don't mean that… Vale", she said, calling him by his real name all of a sudden.

Now Ares' eyes widened, as if he had seen a ghost. "Why had you called me by that name?", he asked, as if he had never been that person, and never had met it.

"We have to settle this, bro", she said, gathering courage from the depths of her now tormented soul. "A name may not mean anything… but it marks us. You and I were Vale and Pharsti once, and even if we change them, we'll always be Vale and Pharsti, that's something we can't avoid"

The light haired boy was feeling weird. He couldn't understand how his sister could talk so freely about that, while he evaded the topic. He had been Vale, but the original him was dead long ago, since the day he lost his normal life in that 'accident' and ended up being used as a subject for the experiments carried out by Dr. Dezeele Zephyrs. He had been Vale again to perform his revenge, but she… his sister's case was different. She would have been Pharsti again if she hadn't lost her memory. Although she got to remember everything again, she was attached to the Myona she had been in the short time she shared with the BIS gang. What if he had been the one who lost the memory? Would everything have been so different?

"Brother? Are you alright?", Myona called him back, worried.

He opened his eyes again, trying to recover quickly from his thoughts. "I'm fine… Pharsti", he replied, coldly. "Do you want things this way?"

Now Myona felt touched, but not in a positive way. She was feeling odd, as if she hadn't been that person, either. "I… I'm sorry if I had hurt you", she apologized, softly.

"Do you want things this way?", he asked again, harshly.

"I… I don't know", she admitted, shyly. "You may think I'm crazy, but I don't know what I want", she whined, against her will. "That's why I'd asked you that. Who do you think we are now? We look like two strangers. It's like we evade each other. We've been together for almost two months and we hadn't had this chat before..."

She was completely right. They barely talked to each other in private, like now. There was someone else, always. If it wasn't Cage, it was Semyl, or Mebius, or Razma, or whoever.

"You are right…", Ares nodded, staring at the floor. "I don't know who you think you should be. For me, you are my little sister. In what concerns me, I think I'll stick to this name for the time being. At least for now. A name may be nothing, but…", he left his sentence without an end, because he didn't know what to say, really. "Maybe I don't want to use my real name because I've done quite some bad things when I used it, and because it makes me think in the person I could have been and I'll never get to be", he said, staring thoughtfully at the wall.

"Is there another reason why you want to stick with this name?", she asked, thinking in another hidden reason he may have, although he didn't want to admit it.

"What are you insinuating?", he asked, catching her thoughts.

"You know what I mean?", she replied, grinning. "Do you have another reason to keep this name? A girl, maybe?"

Ares looked straight at her, with a 'don't tell me you also believe that' face. "You mean Hazel?", he asked, tired. At his sister's nod, he replied, "She's a nice girl, but why do you keep on trying to match me with her? Is it that you are all so bored that you play matchmaker!?"

Myona giggled. "You should have seen yourself back at the kitchen earlier today…"

Ares arched an eyebrow, sort of disgusted. "So you spied us?"

"Just a little", his sister grinned, playfully. "And? What are your intentions towards her? Remember, this is a bro-sis chat"

He smiled relieved at that statement. "I don't know if anything will come out of this, considering my lack of ability in what girls concern, but… I would rather not tell her about our past for the time being. Ok, Pharsti?", he said, winking at his sister.

She smiled lightly. "Alright, Vale. Or is it Ares now?"

He sighed bitterly. "I would rather prefer it Ares, but I can't force you to call me like that if you don't want. Just avoid calling me like that in public"

"And especially around Hazel", she said.

He didn't say anything, but he was rather surprised, as those were the exact words he thought, even feeling insecure about that choice.

"What about you? Should I call you Pharsti?", he asked, leaving the book he had been reading in his small night table.

"Between us", she said, softly. "As if it were our little 'brother and sister' secret", she smiled, innocently.

"If you want so…", he said, resigned. "Although I don't share your position much. The real Vale died with our parents, and his 'reincarnation' turned out to be a killing weirdo, so it brings me bad memories"

"I'll try to avoid calling you like that, brother, if it hurts you much", she said, embracing him once again, so he could forget those bad memories soon.

* * *

Somewhere else within Hellespontos…

Ethan sighed, annoyed. "It's time for the idiot to appear, I guess", he said, checking his watch for the ninth time since he got into the hangar with his sister. They were supposed to have a meeting with Marrek Pith, their superior, also called 'Idiot' by the light brown haired youth. Although his sister didn't think like that name for him.

"Can you stop calling him like that?", she asked, tired. "Anyone would say you are jealous", she said, rubbing her hands quickly. It was quite cold in the hangar.

"Me, jealous of that guy?", he asked ironically, arching an eyebrow. "No way! I have better things to do than thinking about or compare myself with some jerk like him!"

"Anyway, you should respect him a bit more if you don't want to end… well, you know", his sister said, shrugging at the end of his sentence.

Ethan started walking along the hangar, silently. He didn't want to quarrel with his twin, but he knew that things would end up like that if he went on talking. Ruth was really annoying about their superior, maybe product of an infatuation, in his opinion, but she had some extents that were really intolerable. And this one was one of those extents.

He kept on walking, staring at the OFs in that hangar. A couple of Raptors, some Mummyheads, and in the corner, the two new jewels of their group, their very own OFs, Castor and Pollux.

Ethan stayed in front of them, analyzing them, thoughtfully. The early evening light that came from the small windows made them look clearer than what they were, and even thinner. Pollux, his frame, was looking rather smallerr than what it was. The reflection of the sun over the yellow and whitish frame made it difficult for him to stare at any distinctive features, although he remembered how it was. He looked at the humanoid head, which resembled a young man with short, straight hair. His sister's frame, Castor, also had a humanoid head, resembling a young man, also, but this one had an imitation of curly hair.

'What's with those designers and humanoid appearances in OFs, lately?', he thought, thinking also in the new BIS OFs, Carpe and Tempus. 'They all follow the same lines: they are all members of Greek Mythology, resembling Gods and Goddesses… tall, thin, stylized… the dream came true of Renaissance fanatics'.

"Are you alright, that you had become silent all of a sudden?", Ruth asked, this time with a hint of worry in her voice, something that made Ethan smile.

"I was thinking about this OFs", he replied, leaning against the wall. "Thinking about their abilities, their… well, you know, about these frames in particular. They look rather poor in the design"

She smiled, this time showing her proud on them. "They are quite nice and powerful, you know, even if they aren't pretty. What else can you expect of a bunch of frames made in a hurry? What's more, the design it's not the most important part, but their weapons", she said, looking at her Castor, the horseman, and the tallest of the two frames. "I'm eager to see what they are really capable of"

Ethan rose an eyebrow. "Didn't you have enough the other day?", he asked, annoyed. "You know, a gun, a beam sword… a quick melee attack, and the burst one. What other thing do you expect of a thing like this? Call it LEV, call it Orbital Frame, they are just the same battle thing"

Ruth shook her head slowly, as if her own son had said something silly. "Sometimes you are like a small, innocent child, dear brother", she said, softly. She was like a different person with her brother: warm, comprehensive… although some of her battle behavior was 'infesting' her real self. "You still don't understand what you received without asking anything, just by being part of this…", she added, walking towards him, and staring at the frames. A small smile drew in her face. "Metatron… a mystery beyond comprehension, at least for us. Whatever you may think about it, it has a big chance of being wrong. It's not a normal weapon, it's anything but that. Or haven't you heard about those strange cases of 'overexposure' to it? The runners ended up being a bunch of madmen, with only one thing in common. It's not an ordinary weapon"

"So, you are already suffering of that already said 'overexposure'", Ethan said, coldly.

Ruth's smile faded, and blinked surprised. "Why do you say that?", she asked, fearful.

Ethan walked a few steps silently, giving his back to her. "You already have a single thing in your mind. You just want to satisfy your boss"

"And yours", she said, turning cold. She didn't like him to talk bad about her boss. Their boss. She knew what would come if they went on arguing.

"It just began like a simple infatuation and now you seem totally mad about him!", her brother exclaimed, highly annoyed. "It's like you can't think when he's around, and you behave like a complete cold, lack of personality android!"

Ruth looked elsewhere, tired of that argument. "Alright, alright. It began like an infatuation, I admit it!", she said, with her hands raised as if they were playing thieves and cops as when they were little. "But then… I don't know, he just seems… great for my tastes. I feel happy when I see him, I feel great if he talks to me… being under his command is like a blessing. So that was the reason why I was so strange when you had to leave Hellespontos before. If I had to go, it would have been disastrous for me. I… I know he'll never be mine, but I can call myself done if I manage to stay by his side for a long time, even if I'm nothing but a small shadow…"

"Are you listening to yourself?!", Ethan burst into anger, annoyed by his twin's behaviour. "You are talking about him as if there wasn't anything else in the world!! How can you hate you so much to compare yourself with such a low man like him, that you even want to be like him??"

Ruth stared at him silently, her arms laying at her body's side...

Ethan gave up his rage and pride, and embraced his sister tightly. She accepted his hug, and leaned her head in his chest, feeling comforted. "This is all Williams fault… if he hadn't told you to get into this mess, you would have never met him…", he whispered, trying to repress a couple of tears, product of his rage towards his sister's choice of life. "If we think it even better, it's our dad's fault. If he hadn't died, we would have never joined…"

"Stop talking about that!", she exclaimed, wildly. "It's nothing but past. It has already passed, so there's no need to keep on complaining about it!"

"But it can't be easily forgotten", he added, in a whisper.

The door opened, and footsteps could be heard again. This time, the dark green haired leader, Marrek Pith, made his triumphal entrance to the hangar, like half an hour later than what he had first settled.

Ruth left from her brother's embrace quickly, struggling to look serious and efficient. Ethan couldn't help but roll his eyes at that scene.

"Excuse me, I had some problems" , he said, sliding his hair through his bright, longish wavy hair. "Dealing with the last touches to get our new frames", he explained, uninterested.

"It was time", Ethan replied coldly, behaving himself and repressing his wish to clap. With the equipment they had right now, they couldn't do much, and he was rather impressed of what they had done with a bunch of unmanned frames and LEVs. "You know, we can't handle the situation with Phantomas, Mummyheads and Raptors, even if we now have the Dioscuri"

"I know, there's no need to tell me that", Marrek replied, annoyed. Obviously, neither of them could stand each other, and they did little to hide that fact. "In a few days, one of our people will come with more units, that was what I was dealing before…"

"And who will bring them?", Ethan asked, sharply.

"Why that interest? You left a girl pregnant while you were gone?", the green haired man replied, challenging.

Ethan tightened his fists, repressing his desire to punch his superior. "None of your business", he replied, glaring at him.

"Stop with this!", Ruth yelled, getting in between the two guys. "You look like two schoolboys fighting for something silly! Will you ever cut it down?!"

The youths sort of relaxed then. Ethan, to please his sister. Marrek, because the other was dropping his guard.

"Much better", the blonde girl said, nodding. "Now, what should we do?", she said, facing Marrek.

"I think that both of you need a bit more of training, before we try to get our things back, so I was going to tell you to get in your frames and wander a bit around. The BIS will surely catch your Metatron radiation, and so you'll find your sparring mates in no time", he explained, leaning against the wall. "I'll be monitoring everything from here, and you'll also be given some Raptors, just to spice things up a bit, as this has no real meaning in our plans, but try to learn more about their battle characteristics, although he have a good record of them from other times", he added, looking at the roof, relaxing. "We have to learn well their tactics, if we want our mission to succeed without any flaws"

"Aha. So we'll play the 'happy campers'?", Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. "Let's harass the bear until he rips us into two or three pieces, just to save your neck"

"Ethan!", Ruth yelled, annoyed.

"I would have never said you two were siblings", Marrek said, getting out from the wall. Slowly, he walked past Ethan, without paying attention on him, until he reached Ruth. "You are rather smart and obedient. I just hope he won't ruin your potential", he said, looking at her from head to toe, and talking gently. "Your brother can't even imagine what can happen if I fail, but I'm sure you do, my dear runner"

Ruth looked in another direction, blushing. Ethan, instead, sighed annoyed.

"Well, you have a task. Go and do it!", he said, leaving the hangar.

* * *

Someone knocked Hazel's door. Cynthia had arrived.

"Hi, cousin!", she greeted her, hugging her tightly. "I missed you!!"

Hazel looked at her oddly. "But I saw you yesterday!"

"Aye, I know", the student said, dropping her blazer in the little sofa.

"And weren't you supposed to be working in a group work?", she asked suspiciously, while staring at her wristwatch. She hadn't expected her to come that early.

"You are also right, but I sneaked away", Cynthia said, putting her tie around her head. "Mom called me, and when she cut, I kept on talking, and told my mates that she needed me", she said, winking. "It was dead boring, and no one was working"

"Ah, smart move", Hazel giggled. "Hey, what are you doing with your tie? Trying to look as if you actually practised karate?"

"Something like that", she said, grabbing her tie from her head. "But it's quite slippery and doesn't fit well there. I'm looking for something stylish, maybe I should use it as a belt", she added, making the knot around her waist. "_Voilá_, now it looks better!", she said, standing up and showing her 'creation', proudly: her red tie around her blue skirt and white shirt…

"Uh, I can already feel Milan trembling", Hazel joked, staring at her fashion addict cousin.

"Don't say it again, that I would love to be there in a 'fashion week', at least once and as a tourist", Cynthia sighed, resigned.

"What? You parents don't want you to get into Fashion Design?", Hazel asked, sympathizing.

"Of course not!", Cynthia cried, annoyed. "They want me to get into Economy or Management or something stupid like that. They can't understand that I don't like that kind of life, that I'm more bohemian rather than a female version of a yuppie!"

"I would offer my help there and talk to them but… they will make you study Politics if I ever open my mouth in your behalf", the light haired girl joked, but she was down this time.

"Thanks, I'll pass", Cynthia thanked, quickly. She stayed silent then, thoughtfully, thing that called Hazel's attention.

"It's just me, or do you want to ask me something?", she asked her cousin, a little uncomfortable. She was behaving like a cat would do when it is nervous…

Cynthia blushed, surprised. "How could you tell that?", she asked, in a whisper.

"I know you", Hazel replied, briefly. "We may not have had the closest relationship until a little while, but I can tell when you are sort of repressing something. I can also bet what you wanted to ask, and my answer is 'not yet'". Her tone of voice was somewhat cold, showing that she was trying to find a good defense to what was coming.

"But… Hazel! You just need to take two subjects and you end the first year of Architecture!", the brown haired student complained, anxiously. "Why don't you take them?!"

Hazel sighed, bitterly. "We have already discussed this lots of times before", she said, sick of that recurring topic. "It's not that easy. I need time to study, and I also need to eat and pay my rent, you know. I can't do both things at the same time"

"You could come and live with us…", Cynthia whispered, eager to help.

Hazel looked at her at the eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Ha!", she faked her laugh, sarcastically. "The last time I put my feet in your house was for trouble. I thought you remembered well. If I dare to get into there again, your mother will get out from her bedroom with a machine gun, and would ask me 'sweetly' to leave her sight. I don't really want to think what my uncle would do…", she said, still sarcastically, but thoughtfully by the end of her rant.

"Ha, as if my father was that important and had any kind of opinion", Cynthia mumbled, coldly.

Hazel stayed puzzled at that topic. "I thought you had a better relationship with him lately…", she told her cousin, saddened.

"Oh, yes, a wonderful relationship!", Cynthia joked, now taking the role of the 'sarcastic one'. "'Do this', 'do that', 'Hi', 'Bye', 'Had you thought in your career?', 'Which University do you want?', 'Are your grades high enough?', 'Why are you annoying your mother so much?', and more stuff like that, when he's at home of course! He knows better his office instead of his own home…"

Deep down that sarcastic tone of voice, Cynthia wanted to cry, to let go that disappointment she had towards her family and her life. But she knew how to repress that part of her. She knew well how to cope with that until she could be alone, until she could cry…

Hazel looked at her touched, understanding her feelings far too well. With some tears in her eyes, she went to her cousin and hugged her tightly, firmly.

"Calm down, everything will be alright…", she told Cynthia, awkwardly and trying to sound well, although she was also at the verge of tears. Knowing that her cousin also suffered from the state of her family situation made her feel bad, as Cynthia was also experiencing what she felt, even if the situation was much more different than her personal one.

"Sometimes I wish I…", Cynthia began saying, placing her head in Hazel's elbow. "That… everything turned out different… maybe I could be better if they…"

"Beware with what you are going to say!", Hazel replied coldly, letting herself go from the hug she started. "You will always regret it if something bad happens to them!"

"And how did you know I was going to say that I wanted to be all alone?", Cynthia asked, annoyed by her cousin's behavior, as Hazel seemed to know everything about her in the last hour. "You never experienced this…"

"Of course not!", Hazel cried, sharply. "But I know **you** and your situation, which is completely different", she added, picking her jean jacket and opening the door that led to the corridor. "Let's go", she proposed, pointing at it with her head. "If we go on, we'll end up hurting each other, and I don't want to have a bad day, cursing you until my head bursts", she said, leaving the door open.

Cynthia mumbled something under her breath and left the room, after picking up her blazer and her bag.

* * *

Mebius smiled when she saw Hazel walking along the corridor. It was as if the light blue haired girl had sensed that she was going to knock at her door, somehow.

"Ah, Hazel", she called her, cheerfully. "I was looking for you. Is your cousin here, also?"

"Ah, hi, Mebius", Hazel greeted her back, awkwardly. She hadn't noticed her fellow companion, so that's why she reacted that clumsily. "Yes, she is. She should be getting out of my room… There she is!", she said, waving at Cynthia, who was still annoyed at her.

"Hi, Cynthia!", Mebius greeted her, looking at her. "Stylish belt, uh?", she said, looking at the girl's tie tied around her waist.

"Finally someone that understands good fashion", Cynthia joked after greeting back the blonde woman.

"What's up?", Hazel asked, curiously.

"Robin wants us to gather at the hangar. Seems she has something to tell us about the new weapons for some of our frames", Mebius explained, shrugging. "Whatever it is, we'll know at the hangar"

"Alright, let's go", Cynthia commanded, feeling more relieved.

In almost no time, they were in the hangar, joining the rest of the crew.

"Hi!", Cynthia waved at everyone, cheerfully. Now, there was no sign of her argument with Hazel on her face, thing that made her cousin shrug clueless.

"Hi", Robin greeted back, making them a sign to either get a seat or look for a comfortable place. "I've good and recent news about our new weapons, so that's why wanted all of you to be here", she said, with a proud smile in her face. "Finally, NUT has finished the new 'nifty things' for our OFs, but right now, they had handed in the parts for Durandal and Orcrist, sadly. The rest will have to wait a bit", she commented, resigned.

"Hey, when are we gonna get some of those things?! It's not fair!", Semyl whined, saddened.

"Yeah, she's right. The OFs are the only ones who get upgrades", Razma added, joining the red haired girl's petition.

"Woah, seems we actually agree on something", Semyl joked, looking at him with the corner of her eyes, and smiling mischievously.

"Rather funny", he replied back, annoyed.

"They are right", Yukito said, leaning back in his chair. "I also want something good for 'Justeen', but I guess I can wait. As long as I get something…"

"Oh, well, come on! Anyone else wants something more for your OFs or LEVs?", Robin asked annoyed. This was getting rather difficult and tiring, having to cope with that kind of reclaims.

"Yes, me", Cynthia said, raising her hand. "I really need a manual to cope with Carpe, lately. It's turning into a real pain", she said, shrugging.

Twede sighed bitterly, and some of the BIS members couldn't repress a chuckle, but Cynthia didn't react at that.

"We'll see what we can do with that", Robin said, resigned. "So, Mebius and Warren will be out of battle for a little time, starting…"

The radar started emitting its characteristic sound, sign that a Metatron reaction was near.

"I'll go and check", Twede said, disappearing at the instant.

"Well… I was going to say 'now', but I guess we'll have to delay it", Robin admitted, shrugging.

"Some low Metatron reactions, and two stronger, which I suppose are Orbital Frames", Twede said, standing behind the cousins.

Hazel looked back, afraid. "God, I hadn't expected you to come this way", she whispered, trying to breath normally again.

Twede paid no attention to that comment and continued,

"I don't think it would be too difficult to handle. They just seem to be wandering along the outskirts, quite far from the city"

"But we can't let our guard down", Robin replied, confident. "Guys and girls, onto the battlefield", she commanded, in haste.

* * *

"Are we doing the correct thing?", Cage asked loudly from his cockpit, while they were in their way to the point where the Metatron reactions were coming, which was the same one than when they caught them back at the Saoshyant. For some reason, the enemy hadn't moved at all, and that was a suspicious thing.

"Why do you ask that, Cage?", Yukito asked, leaning comfortable in Justeen's cockpit.

"I mean… we don't know their intentions", the blue haired youth replied, thoughtfully. "They haven't moved from the original place… It's weird"

"Yeah, it is, but we can't wait until they decide to do something", Warren said, while checking something in Durandal's screen. "It can be too late for us to act if we give them more time"

"He's right, Cage", Semyl got into the chat, lively. "What's more, it's time they learn who's the boss here!"

"Maybe you are all right", Cage shrugged, resigned.

"Hey, Cynthia, how are you coping with Carpe?", Hazel asked, changing abruptly the topic.

"For now, I'm sort of fine, but I don't know when this thing will stop by its own", the student admitted, dealing with some options that popped up in her screen. "Is it that I can't be safe from 'pop ups' that they even appear in an Orbital Frame?!", she asked, scandalized. "Ah, never mind, they are gone", she said at the next moment, much relieved.

Mebius giggled at that statement. "Calm down", she said to Cynthia, smiling. "It's until you get used. It's not that hard then"

"Whatever", Cynthia shrugged, sighing. "The thing is that I had almost no problems when I first got into this… I wonder what's wrong…"

"Get ready, you are almost there", Twede's voice informed from the main room back at the Saoshyant.

"Dioscuri north ahead", Cynthia read her screen, surprised. "Hazel, tell me that you are also reading that in your OF, I beg you!"

Hazel denied it, shaking her head. "I don't have anything in my screen, sorry", she said, feeling sorry for her cousin. Even if she had had a more developed OF which could recognize the enemy at an instant, she didn't want it. In fact, she didn't even want her unnamed frame… She knew how Cynthia was feeling, and couldn't stop feeling sorry about it, and couldn't stop blaming herself for all the situation.

"Oh, hell! Why me?!", the student asked, wanting to scream. "Is it that I have some magnetism with this things?", she thought anxiously, while her Carpe was heading north. "I mean, I'm attracted to troublesome things!"

"Could you just shut up and concentrate in the upcoming battle?!", Twede begged her through the speakers, sick of her whining.

"It's easy for you to say that, because you aren't the one in this cockpit", Cynthia mumbled annoyed while joining the others.

Finally, the enemy frames were near, as well as battle. Along with the Dioscuri, a couple of Raptors were also there.

"It was time", Ruth said ironically, sort of greeting them. With that, a Metatron beam sword appeared in Castor's right hand. Without saying a word, she charged against the whole group, in a reckless move. However, she managed to strike the Caliburnus, taking Semyl by surprise.

"You… you don't know with whom you are messing with!!", Semyl exclaimed really annoyed. She selected one of the options displayed in her screen, punching the key hard with her fist. "Guess you'll be done with the 'Star Carnival'", she mumbled, glaring at Ruth's OF.

A rain of bullets covered the enemy side, hitting some wandering Raptors which were under Razma and Warren's attack. Ethan's frame sort of shook, while Ruth stayed there, without moving.

Without saying anything, Castor's arm got straight, aiming at Hazel's OF, which was fighting a Raptor giving her back to Ruth. At Ruth's command, a part of the frame's arm went right against Hazel's back. That weapon, disguised as part of the frame's arm, was a kind of harpoon.

Hazel turned back, just to see the harpoon strike near her frame's core. With that blow, her frame knelt down, trying to recover some of the lost energy.

"Haze, are you alright?!", Cynthia yelled anxiously as soon as she saw her cousin's frame on the floor.

"I'm… I'm alright…", the gray eyed girl replied shocked, breathing heavily.

"Hazel, your frame will run out of energy", Myona told her, checking her OF status in the Calibur's screen. "Try to get out of there and I'll replenish your health", she added, while Robin, who was driving the auxiliary vehicle, was dodging one of Ethan's fist attacks.

"I'll try to do it", she replied, tired. But what she hadn't realized was that she already had Ruth's frame above her, literally.

"You aren't that much of a frame runner", Ruth said, coldly but not as impersonal as before. "With a machine like that, I could do much better"

"I haven't chosen this fate", Hazel admitted, sweating. "What's your business with them, with BIS?", she asked next, trying to sound calm, although she knew couldn't handle that situation much. She was sure she wouldn't survive that easily from Ruth.

"As if I would tell you", the blonde enemy replied, sighing. Right then, a beam lance materialized in one of Castor's hands. "Nothing personal", she added, raising her arm up, ready to let the lance go.

Right then, Castor fall backwards, hit by the Tri-Laser. Hazel took that opportunity to get up from the floor and getting out of the battlefield. The only frame or LEV near her was Ares' one, who was know fighting against Ethan, while Cage and Yukito took care of Ruth. A small smile drew in Hazel's lips, involuntarily. She knew it had been him the one who knocked Castor over.

"'Thanks'", she typed quickly and sent it to Ares as a text message, while Myona was recharging her frame's health.

"You've got it pretty hard this time", Myona commented, while the replenishing was taking place. "We all thought you were over until she got knocked down by Ares". She was about to say 'my brother' instead, but she realized it before she talked.

"I also thought I was over", Hazel sighed, sick of fighting. "So Ares was the one who hit her?", she asked, as if she didn't care much.

"Yes. He's rather protective with his people", Myona said, smiling lightly.

"I see…", the light blue haired girl replied, seriously. "Is it ready?"

"Yes, it is", Myona said, while the Calibur got separate from the Tempus. "Watch your back"

"I'll do it, thanks", she replied, driving her OF back to the battlefield again.

"I hate you!!", Cynthia yelled annoyed at the screen, with a great desire of punching it hard.

"What's wrong?", Cage asked, curious at that outburst.

"This thing… won't move… in the… desired direction!", she replied, while she tried to move her OF with big effort. "I don't know why it gets this stuck when we are facing this guys!"

"I would like to help, but I can't", the blue haired boy said, shrugging. "You have some long range weapons, haven't you?"

"Yes, but…"

"Then, you'll have to use those", Cage said, knocking down a Raptor with the Beam Arrow. "It's the only thing you have now"

"I know…", Cynthia sighed, selecting her Green Lance attack, and charging against Ruth from afar.

"Ruth, I guess it's time for us to leave", Ethan said, looking at his health meter. It was going downhill, although he could still fight more if he truly wanted.

Ruth didn't reply. Instead, she kept on attacking with Castor's sword, damaging the Orcrist this time.

"Ruth, are you playing deaf?", he asked again, impatiently. "Why is it that you want to look like a really bad, tough badass, when you are just an average runner?"

"Oh, just shut up!", Ruth reacted badly, affected by her twin's last statement. "You are just envious"

Ethan chuckled, moving his frame out of the battlefield. "Me? Envious? Why would I be envious?", he sighing, tired of his sister's behavior. "Look. It's time to leave. It really is. We have already trained enough"

Ruth moaned, annoyed. "Alright, alright, I'm going", she said, switching off the connection with his brother, while joining him, leaving her beloved battlefield behind.

"Why is it that you had turned into such a softy?", Ruth asked herself harshly, thinking in her brother, while returning to their headquarters. "If it seems that we had switched over our roles…", she thought, leaning back in her cockpit, intending to find an answer that she wouldn't have.

"They are leaving…", Myona whispered, dropping herself in one of Calibur's seats, tired of the amount of work she had had. Although the battle didn't last too long, she had been walking from one side of the other, supplying more energy into the other LEVs or OFs, depending the case.

"It's odd…", Mebius added, looking at the two enemy frames leaving, some good kilometers away. "If they didn't want to fight, as it seemed, why had they arranged this?"

"I have no idea", Cage said, after a brief yawn.

"Whatever, I think it's time to get going", Robin said, driving the Calibur. "They could have some hidden strategy"

"In that case, it's really well hidden. Well then, let's go", Yukito sort of commanded, making his Justeen run in auto-pilot mode while he could take a small nap.

* * *

The group finally arrived back at the Saoshyant, where Twede, having a rather hard time with Lia, was waiting anxiously.

"Finally, home again", Semyl celebrated, letting go a little yawn after that.

"I never thought that I would ever miss you so much", Twede said, puzzling everyone. "I would suggest that someone else stays here next time. I've never thought it would be that difficult to take care of a child"

"What?!", Mebius asked, running towards the little Lia, who was dead bored. Holding her in her arms, she faced Twede again.

"What do you mean by that?", she asked, frowning. Now the little one seemed much more relieved, being near her foster mother.

"Hey, I didn't do anything to her!", Twede defended himself, sweating. "It's just that she was pestering me, I mean, she was really bored and wanted me to entertain her"

Everyone, except Mebius (who was getting angry) and Twede, chuckled at that comment of the black dressed man. Many looked somewhere else, just to avoid Twede's gaze, which was a mix of embarrassment and rage.

"Just great", Mebius said, still annoyed. "No wonder why I can't see you having any children!", she exclaimed, leaving the hangar with the girl in her arms.

Now, most of the ones there had to cough to stop laughing, if they didn't want to make Twede fall in some intense anger. Without saying anything, he left the hangar and went straight to the main room, or to another place where he could be at ease, far from being the blank of jokes, until everything returned back to what he could think as 'normal'.

"This was rather funny!", Cynthia said, coming from Hazel's room with her things. "Well, everyone, see you later!", she added, waving at everyone.

"What? Are you already leaving?", Hazel asked, surprised. "Don't you want me to go with you?"

"Nah, it's alright", her cousin replied, turning down her offer. "It's time I learn the way home by myself", she said, while getting out from the Saoshyant.

"Well… bye", Hazel greeted her, shrugging, as she watched her walking rather fast to her house, which was a good walk away from there.

* * *

It was already night when Ares decided to leave the giant vehicle which was their home. Silently, he sat down on the field, just to lay back and stare at the sky for a little while, before returning to his room and take a proper sleep.

He closed his eyes, and started thinking, releasing his thoughts, his fears… He felt so light in that infinite silence, under the rather cool Martian night.

"Are you sleeping?", Hazel's voice asked, shyly, bringing him back from his thoughts.

He sat down, and looked back, from where her voice came. It took him some seconds until he could find her shadow, and some more until he could distinguish her well.

"No", he replied back, briefly but naturally.

"May I… seat by your side?", she asked, even more shyly than before.

"Sure", he replied, moving a bit, so she would have some more space to be more comfortable there.

"Thanks", she whispered, as she lay back on the ground, with her right arm crossed down her head and the other in the ground.

They stayed there, without changing a word for some time. He was quite surprised of her showing up there, but he wasn't annoyed by that. The only thing that disturbed him was that he didn't know what she would want…

"Thanks for helping me today", Hazel said all of a sudden. She had to gather all her courage to say that simple phrase without shacking.

"It was nothing", he replied, smiling. Now he was feeling more relaxed, now that he knew what brought her there.

"She sure got me by surprise this time", Hazel went on, breaking the silence that had arisen again, after his reply. "I wasn't expecting something like that… as well as I had never expected running an orbital frame"

"Are you too uncomfortable in that role?", he asked her, somewhat coldly, thing that made Hazel re-think if she wasn't disturbing him.

"Not really, but I'm not too fond of it", she admitted, after a long sigh. "I wish I just hadn't found it…"

Ares didn't reply, but stared at the stars, with some interest.

"Well, at least this time Ruth didn't throw any kind of stupid threatens, nor she performed her super OF pose", he said, trying to cheer her up a bit.

Hazel laughed, letting go her somewhat hidden laughter. "You are right", she smiled, looking at him. "I was expecting that to happen when they left"

"She left us all waiting for that"

"Yes", she said, before letting go another deep sigh.

Again, another uncomfortable silence. Hazel looked in the opposite direction, thinking that she would do better if she left…

"Are you comfortable here?", Ares asked, somewhat curiously.

Hazel looked back in his direction, meeting his gaze, unexpectedly.

"Well… I can't complain", she said, thinking for a little while. "You guys are rather friendly, and I think it's the first time, in a long time, that someone accepts me that soon. You cope with me, without expecting anything in return… well, yes, that I run that OF, but it's an expected thing. But it's the first time that I find myself so comfortable among a whole lot of strangers…", she said, staring at the sky, loosing herself in her thoughts. "It's sure been a long time since I got to smile that often, since I feel I can trust people so much…"

She closed her eyes, and sighed, once again.

"What happened before?", Ares asked, highly interested.

Hazel kept silent for another short while, then she faced him again. He could easily tell that she was teary-eyed.

"Could we just avoid talking about it right now?", she asked, softly and with a hint of insecurity in her voice. "It's just that the night is so lovely, and that I'm feeling rather well, that I don't want to spoil it…"

Ares would have shrugged if he were standing.

"Well… if you want so", he said, not so convinced, but accepting her decision. "I can't force you to talk"

"Maybe some other day… but not tonight", she said, now talking more naturally.

"Alright, but don't take it much at heart", he advised, feeling that he had to say something. "You know, it has already been done, whatever happened to you"

"I know", she said, sighing. "Anyway, thanks for today", she thanked today, getting up.

"Are you already leaving?", he asked, still laying on the ground.

"Yes", she said, while walking to the door. "I will fall asleep there if I stay more", she joked, giggling.

"In that case, good night", he greeted her, looking in her direction.

"Goodnight", she replied, before closing the door.

Silently, she walked through the corridor, with her head down, thinking in that chat. "I think you would have also taken it by heart, if you were like me", she thought saddened, while walking into her room…


	12. Unexpected

Chapter 12: Unexpected

Cynthia walked into the main room silently, trying not to make a sound. She had a naughty smile in her face, as if she had done some silly mischief. Well, it was something comprehensible. No one would expect her to be at the Saoshyant that soon, near midday.

The door closed after her, and she smiled once again, proudly. None of the members of BIS who were in the room noticed her coming, as they were all deep concentrated in what they were doing: Yukito was chuckling at some of his old mangas; Semyl was dealing with her knitting skill, and she was finding out that she still had a long way to go before she could knit those so promised socks for Lia; Myona and Cage were also looking at some magazine, maybe thinking in their possible future destination, as they were just in Mars for 'a short holiday', and still thought in going to many more places. Ares was typing some things in his notebook, pressing the keys with some unnecessary strength, and that sound was the only thing that prevented the room from being in absolute silence. Finally, Razma was cleaning some artifact cautiously, paying all the attention he had.

Cynthia coughed softly, smiling once more. She was about to do something funny… for her.

"Hi!! I'm already here!!!!!", she yelled with all her strength, happily. While that, she dropped her bag hardly to the ground, making much more noise than the expected one.

Needless to say, everyone looked up or backwards at the next instant, surprised or even frightened by the sudden outburst. Cynthia's smile grew even bigger than before, noticing that she got the desired effect.

"What the Hell's wrong with ya?!?", Semyl asked her furiously, pointing at her with one of her knitting needles.

"You needn't have to do that fuss, you know", Yukito said, returning to his manga.

"Well, hi", Myona greeted her, puzzled, and waving at her.

One of the doors leading to the corridor opened, and Hazel came out from it.

"Is it just me or…?", she asked while walking to the main room. However, she never finished her question, as her answer was standing in the main room, waving at her naughtily. "Cynthia, what are you doing here?!?", the light blue haired girl asked, running out of patience. "You should be at school right now!!"

"I see you are really happy to see me, cousin", Cynthia replied, using some of her sarcasm.

Hazel felt guilty for a second. "You know it's not like that, Cynthia!", she defended herself, still enraged. "You shouldn't be here at this time, but at school!"

"Hey, you really look like my mother!", the student 'counter-attacked', getting annoyed. Not that she wanted Hazel to run to her meeting, but she was expecting a rather positive welcoming.

"I wonder what kind of mother I'll be if I ever have children, and if they turn out like you", Hazel replied back, somewhat coldly, somewhat resigned.

"Hey, what's all this noise?", Robin asked, coming from the hangar with Twede, Warren and Mebius. "You all should try to control your vocal strings, we heard all perfectly well even at the hangar!", she added, not so pleased.

"Oh, God, if it seems that you have met Devil itself", Cynthia complained, annoyed. "I'm not like that, you know"

Mebius frowned, eager to listen to the reason behind all that fuss. "Alright, you aren't Satan, but what has happened here?!?", the blonde woman asked, trying to gather some more patience from somewhere within her.

"Alright, I'll tell you", Cynthia said, picking her bag from the floor and putting it in one of the chairs. "I was gonna tell you from the very beginning, you know"

"Can you explain this, for God's sake!", Cage pleaded, anxiously. Even him was sick of that situation. If Ares were to add something, it would have been a complete agreement against the student…

Cynthia swallowed hard, regretting her somewhat childish behavior.

"The thing is that my parents are out of town, so… I'm free!!", she explained, talking softly first, as if she were ashamed of herself, and outbursting with happiness at the end. "Dad had another of those business trips to Nereidum, and Mom decided to go with him, thinking that I could take care of myself, and well, here I'm"

Everyone stood there, frozen by the 'news'. It could be a good thing having her there all day, or it could just call for some trouble.

"But you still should be at school, with your parents in town or out of it", Hazel pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Hell, you are no fun, Haze!", Cynthia complained, getting annoyed against her responsible cousin. "It's just one day. Tomorrow I'll be there, I promise. On the other hand, they left early this morning, and won't be back 'til around the weekend, and we are on Thursday now…so… Happy dance, happy dance, happy, happy, happy dance!!!", she began chanting, shacking herself from one side to the other, extremely happy.

"Pathetic", Twede said, after watching that dancing. "And you are about to graduate from High School… what will be of us if they are all like her!?!?", he mumbled, highly scandalized.

Robin couldn't help but chuckle at Twede's statement.

"That's you version of the happy dance?", Yukito asked, between his chuckles. "I think it needs some improvement"

"But even if they hadn't warn me, you are my responsibility, dear cousin", Hazel went on, ignoring Twede's statement and Yukito's question. "So, you shouldn't be here"

"But I'm already here, Haze, so we can't change anything", the student replied back, quickly. "I'll go tomorrow, don't worry. The bad thing is that I'll have to wake up earlier than expected…"

"Why?", the light blue haired girl asked, fearful of what it would come from Cynthia's reply.

"You aren't home all alone, gonna let me sleep at my are you?", Cynthia asked, with her hands at her hips and her body leaning forwards in Hazel's direction.

"No way. Over my dead body. Never. Forget it. In a single word, NO!", the light blue haired youth sais all of a sudden, ending in something next to a desperate yell. Nobody could say a thing, as the two cousins were dominating the chat. Even if they wanted to talk, they wouldn't have been heard them.

"Don't make me laugh, Hazel! You've already said something like that when I wanted to join and look where I'm now; so stop saying that, or you'll really die after saying that!", Cynthia replied sarcastically.

"Look, 'little one'", Hazel told her, walking to her side with some cold expression in her eyes, and with all the little patience she had in herself. "You can't have it all. Nobody can. What if your mother calls late at night and you aren't there? I bet you that she will take the first ship she finds, even if it's the one of some cold blooded, perverted assassin, just to see if you are alright. Do I make myself clear, Cynthia?"

Cynthia swallowed hardly, feeling awkward and ashamed. She had never seen her cousin like that, at least she couldn't recall at that moment, so it would be better to do as she asked, instead of trying to look what would happen if she were to disobey her.

"Aye, alright, Hazel, you win", she replied, still sarcastic. She wasn't going to show that she was feeling weak by her cousin's attitude. "But now tell me, are you ok?"

Hazel smiled lightly, proudly. "Yes. It's just that you sometimes make me loose the little patience I have", she explained, before walking into the corridor and getting into her room.

"What's with her now?", Razma asked, not understanding anything of the situation

Cynthia sighed, defeated. "Nothing. She just loves to make me feel bad when she wins… and to puzzle everyone else, even if she denies it. I don't know.", she replied, leaning against the wall. "I guess I should say I'm sorry , shouldn't I?", she asked, already knowing the answer. She was feeling sorry and ashamed of herself, actually.

"Well, now that this is finally over, we are leaving", Robin said, picking her purse. "Ah, Cynthia", she said, while checking she had everything she needed. "I wouldn't have minded with you staying, but I don't want to create another argument, so… sorry"

Cynthia nodded, in agreement. "Don't worry, I'm ok"

"In that case, see you later", she said, getting out of the room in direction to the hangar.

"Where are you all going?", Myona asked, curiously.

"We are going to some BIS Labs", Mebius replied, being the last one of the small group that was leaving that stayed in the room. "Finally, Durandal and Orcrist are getting some upgrades, that's why Warren and I are also going", she explained, kissing Lia on the cheek. "Look well after her, yes? Can I count on you?"

Myona smiled, holding the little girl in her arms.

"Don't worry Miss Mebius, I'll look after her well"

"Rest easy, sis. We'll handle it", Razma replied, getting near the kid.

"Now I don't feel that well", Mebius joked, before leaving the room.

*****

Ethan got into the communication's room, with a cup of coffee in his hand. There, his twin Ruth and their superior Marrek were waiting for him, chatting rather friendly about some trivial topic. Ethan couldn't help feeling uncomfortable with the fact that his sister liked a jerk like him, but he was trying to come into good terms with that fact, although he didn't like that at all.

"Seems you forgot to have breakfast", Ruth joked, pointing at his coffee.

Ethan looked down at it, smiling. "I think I need to have this to be fully awake, although caffeine turns into something rather nasty later in your life", he said, making reference to all the medical research about that substance that he could recall.

"Whatever", Marrek interrupted him, bored. "You two are here for more important things than having a medical conference about coffee and health", he said, disgustingly.

Ruth nodded, while Ethan sat down next to his sister and facing Marrek, not before glaring at him briefly.

"As I was saying, we have more important things to discuss", Marrek started talking, passing his hand over his hair, which was starting to get all over his eyes, preventing him of seeing anything. "We have some good news lately. Yesterday, late at night, we received some more replacements. Decent replacements, in fact. So… no more Raptors and Mummyheads as our only OFs"

Ethan left his cup on the table and started clapping, sarcastically. "It was time", he said. "I thought you wanted BIS to end with all our equipment before asking for replacements"

"As if it were that easily", Marrek replied, getting annoyed. "This isn't an easy job, as you may think"

"What I think is that you are not worth of your position, not that it's an easy job", Ethan counter-attacked, sipping some of his coffee as if nothing was happening.

"Wanna see if I'm that unworthy?", the green-haired man said, walking to Ethan's side in a not so friendly way.

"Oh, mommy, help me! I need my teddy right now!", the light brown haired man said, acting afraid and shaking his hands violently. "Oh, look, I'm shacking because you are coming to kick my ass"

Ruth sighed bitterly and got up from her chair, and got in between the two males. Looking straight into Marrek's eyes, she said, slowly, "Let him be, you shouldn't waste your time in a low fight"

Marrek stood there, staring at Ruth's eyes, which had a mix of determination and softness. Coughing, he turned back, and walked away, returning to where he first was. Ruth followed him with her sight, and then she returned to her seat, while Ethan mumbled annoyed something like "look how things turned out".

"Returning to what concerns us", he re-started, with his strategy of having some distance from his subordinates. "A second reinforcement group should be arriving this night, if everything goes as expected. Unlike this first group, the second will also bring pilots as reinforcements, because we can't overexpose both of you, even if I would like to", he said, looking at Ethan while he said the last part, while he thought how easily it would be to get rid of the annoying sibling in just one mission, giving him a single Phantoma LEV unit…

"And can we know who's the head of the second group?", Ethan asked, sipping some of his coffee, uninterestedly.

"Why do you want to know?", Ruth asked, fearing something.

"Curiosity", Ethan replied. "Is that wrong with you?"

Ruth denied with her head, although she was suspecting something.

"Mikenne Reijha is the head of that group", Marrek replied, coldly. "Why do you ask?"

"It's not your business", Ethan said, annoyed. "So she's coming, uh?", he asked, trying to sound uninterested, but it was clear that he had a good concept about the mentioned woman.

"I knew you wanted to know if she was coming!", Ruth complained, annoyed. "And why is she coming? We were rather well with her away", she asked, angrily.

"Because she's the head of our Elysium branch, that's why", Marrek explained, thinking that Ruth was going too carried away with her anger. "They decided to leave that county, and in the redistribution of forces they decided to assign her here, as well with some of her pilots. Now, why are you so angry, if I can know?", he asked, walking next to her.

Ruth felt proudly that her boss was showing some kind of interest in her, and blushing lightly she replied, "We were together some time before, when we first joined with my brother, and I never got on well with her, that's why. It was a blessing that my brother was chosen to go to Cimmeria instead of me, because he can tolerate her a bit more than what I do, if I'm not wrong…", she said, looking at her brother angrily as she said that.

"And? I can't stand this jerk and here I'm, so I guess it was my turn to be near someone cool", Ethan defended himself, throwing his cup of coffee into the dustbin from afar. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to make it enter, so he had to walk to get it, while mumbling some insults, which were for both Marrek and the cup.

"Ah, I see. She was transferred to Elysium, while he returned here. I would have liked it to be the other way round", Marrek said, grinning.

Ruth couldn't help frowning, as it was really disappointing to find out that her beloved superior still preferred Mikenne instead of her, even with all the progress she had made in the last months.

"However, that's not the only thing I had to tell you", he said, sitting down in what was Ethan's place, while grabbing Ruth's hand, thing that surprised her, but also pleased her, and made her forget what he had said before. "It's time"

"What time? Lunchtime?", Ethan asked sarcastically, leaning against the wall.

Ruth glared at him, sighing, while her hand was still being hold by Marrek's ones.

"No, idiot", Marrek said, trying to remain calm. "Time to retrieve our frames. We've worked hard to make them, and we aren't going to let those BIS folks to have them so easily. So, go and get into your frames. I'll stay here, but if something goes wrong, I'll go. I think you two can do it, with some of our new reinforcements"

"But shouldn't we wait until we receive all the reinforcements?", Ruth asked, concerned.

Marrek denied with his head, then faced her. "They have two OFs away, so they'll be outnumbered today. If we wait for tomorrow, it could be too late and risky for us", he explained, letting her hand go. "Now go, and finish this quickly".

After that, he walked out of the room, in his direction to the main room…

*****

The door opened by itself, and Cynthia came into the hangar, this time with the already taken decision of not committing something really stupid like when she got into the Saoshyant, not even if the occasion was at her favor and really tempting.

"Thinking in playing another nifty trick on us?", Yukito teased her as he saw her, coming into the hangar silently, something not so natural in her.

"No, thank you", the student replied, smiling lightly. "Now I know what happens…", she said, searching for her cousin with her eyes.

"You can't always win", Hazel's voice added, naturally, yet as if she had been triumphant about that subject.

Cynthia looked again for her cousin, this time rather desperately. "Hazel, where are you?", she asked uncertain.

"Up here", she replied, cheerfully.

Cynthia looked up, and effectively, she found Hazel… inside her still nameless OF. That really caught the student's attention, much more than Hazel's cold attitude towards her earlier in the morning. "Hazel, are you sure you are alright?", she asked, rubbing her eyes, just to be sure she wasn't having hallucinations, maybe product of a bad night's sleep.

"Yeah, we also thought that", Razma commented, coming from his LEV. "She's rather reluctant to get near her frame, and now there she is, checking if everything's fine", the red haired youth explained, shrugging.

"Don't misunderstand me", Hazel objected, coming out of the cockpit. "I'm still reluctant to be near or inside this thing, but I don't want to die in one, so I think it's better to check everything out", she said, making her way downstairs with some difficulty. Finally, she put her feet on the floor again, feeling relieved. "Besides, I don't know how much time I'll be using it, so I guess it's better to befriend it"

"Looks like you are in top-athletic state, aren't you, cousin?", Cynthia asked sarcastically. "You used to complain if you had to walk three blocks in the past…", she added, grinning maliciously, as if she knew -or what's more, wanted- to make her cousin feel ashamed.

Hazel blushed, and lowered her head. Indeed, she was feeling awkward. "And?", she asked, leaving her jean jacket on one of the few chairs in the hangar. "What's wrong with that? I'm still the same Hazel", she said, turning back and walking to where Ares was, sitting in front of his notebook.

"I wish you were…", Cynthia said softly, almost for herself, while watching her walking to the silent youth.

"How's everything in the OF?", Hazel asked Ares, referring to her frame, addressed as "Tempus Fugit", or just "Tempus" by Cynthia, but that still remained unnamed for her.

"You mean your OF, don't you?", he asked, looking at her through his frame-less glasses.

Hazel nodded, looking at it as she did so.

"Well… what can I say? Everything seems fine, at least the few things I can analyze. However, no blueprint found yet, no hint of AI type, if that exists, no idea about who made it… those frames are a big interrogation mark, in my opinion", Ares said, checking at the screen as he explained her.

"And couldn't you find a way to hack its system?", the light blue haired girl asked, getting nearer the screen, just to return to where she originally was, quickly. "Goodness! Shouldn't you wear sunglasses when you are in front of that thing?", she asked, ironically, rubbing her eyes quickly.

"I had already tried that", Ares said, sighing. "I'm talking about hacking the system, not the sunglasses. Else, I would already have that data, and less things to worry about"

"That's strange. You are somewhat of a genius when computers are concerned", the girl said, praising him unconsciously. "You should teach me someday", she added, all of a sudden. "I know a little, but next to you, I'm nothing"

Ares felt somewhat uncomfortable. "You want me to teach, uh? You are really crazy!", he protested.

"Why? Don't tell me that you are a male-chauvinist and think that women should stay in the kitchen all day!", Hazel exclaimed, getting annoyed.

"I never said that!", Ares defended himself, looking at her oddly. "I'm not good at teaching, that's all"

"Seems she's feeling comfortable", Cynthia said, looking at the arguing couple from afar, along with Yukito and Razma. "She's not that social with the rest of the world when it's not with me"

"Mmh… you may be right", Razma said, scratching his chin as he talked. "She doesn't talk that much when she's alone", he said, referring to Hazel. "Nor he seems that accessible", he added, this time looking at Ares.

"Both of them must suffer some kind of double-personality issue, in my opinion", Yukito joked, sarcastically.

"You'll never find out if you don't try", Hazel replied normally, acting offended, with her arms folded and her eyes shut. It was then when she noticed the three remaining people in the hangar, looking at them interested, as if they were some Lab project.

She felt her cheeks burning, sign of her embarrassment. Even if it was that obvious, she stayed with her arms folded, but started walking slowly, just with the desire of disappearing. She got away from where Ares was, and disappeared from their sight, turning at her right, ending in the sector reserved for the LEVs in the hangar.

"I still can't believe it's the same person", Cynthia added, staring at her now ashamed and gone cousin. "But I really like her when she's free, at last. It's a damn pity that she pays too much attention to her surroundings"

"Well, that's something usual in some people", Razma said, trying to sound sympathetic. "They think too much and think they are out of place, even if they aren't"

"You aren't of those, are you?", Yukito asked, looking at the red hair youth with the corner of his eye.

"Argh!! Is it that I'm your favorite blank of jokes?", he complained, annoyed at that. "In that case, had you already finished doing the washing up? Oh, my, you sure broke your Martian world record", he added, sarcastically. "Now you should go for the Milky Way one"

"Ah, how funny", Yukito replied, annoyed. "Seems that you had a clown for breakfast"

Cynthia giggled, enjoying the boys performance. "Come on, little children", she said, between her laughs. "Aren't you supposed to guide me to become a more mature being? That's what grown-ups do", she said, innocently.

"And who said I was a grown-up?", Yukito replied, laughing. "Everybody has a kid in their heart, even if that's a really cliché phrase"

"Only that some people keep it hidden and others don't, in the best of the situations. Many really kill their child within", Razma added, smiling. "As you can see, we prefer to live with it, rather than kill him"

"No need to explain that", Cynthia giggled, interested. "I had already guessed that. Needless to say that I want to walk on that path, also, for the rest of my life"

"Welcome to the club, in that case", Yukito welcomed her, grinning.

"Aye, thanks", the student went on with the joke, chuckling.

"Sorry to interrupt this welcoming ceremony, but where is Ares?", Razma asked, half worried, half thinking in another thing. "Shall we go and search for him?", he added, winking an eye.

"You are worst than an old gossip lady", Yukito commented, chuckling. "Just let him be, or let them be, in this case. I think he walked away in the opposite direction, for your data"

"That's no fun", Cynthia complained, sighing. She also wanted to meet someone to get close to. But the image of her cousin having a 'special someone' was something she was eager to see, since a long time ago…

*****

Cage knocked the door, even if he had already opened it by that time.

"Shhhh!", Myona whispered, with her index finger in front of her lips, sign that he shouldn't do any noise. "She's asleep", she explained then, leaving the little girl in her bed, before going to her boyfriend's arms.

"Did she take too much time to fall asleep?", Cage asked, hugging her softly against his chest.

Myona giggled, looking right into his eyes. "Not at all. She's a real saint", she said, leaning her head against the blue haired boy's chest. "She's such a cutie when she's asleep, as well as when she's active"

"People say that children always look cute when they are asleep", he commented, quite thoughtfully.

"Really? Then you should see at yourself when you are asleep…", Myona joked, looking straight at his blue eyes for the second time.

"So I call your maternal instinct every time I sleep, uh?", the boy asked ironically. "I never thought I was such a cutie", he added, smiling rather proudly.

"You are just like a child, Cage", Myona replied, giggling. "You need someone to look after you and to warn you that you your ego should make some diet, as it's as big as Saturn, rings included"

"Just that? Saturn isn't enough for it, you know…", he went on with the joke, getting even more near his girlfriend. "Jupiter is the biggest planet in the system…"

"I know, but I like Saturn best", the purplish haired girl replied, moving her head lightly, trying to evade Cage's head.

"Know what? Guess Lia's awakening my paternal instinct", Cage commented, all of a sudden.

"Wha…t?"

Myona's blood froze; just for a second, but it got frozen. She didn't know how to react, as caught be the surprise, one of the biggest ones she had ever had, as she was. Searching for Cage's eyes again, she mumbled, "Cage… that's something really wondrous, but… isn't it too soon?"

Her words were weak, just as her appearance in that moment. She was trembling, afraid, and touched.

"Hey, calm down", he said quickly, noticing her state. "I didn't want to mean that I wanted to have a child right now, Myona; at all", he explained, holding her tightly, protectively. "I want to stay all my life by your side, and to have a family with you, but I also want to go through every step, enjoying everything with you. There's time to think about that. There's no need to advance various positions in a row", he said, kissing her in her head.

"Cage… I love you", Myona said, as some rebel tears popped out from her eyes. "You are so sweet sometimes…"

"Just sometimes? You are so mean…", he said, still playful.

"You can't have it all, you know?", she said, smiling.

"Can I have one of this?", he asked, getting his face nearer to hers, searching for her lips.

"Maybe…", she whispered, waiting for him…

Just then, the door opened, and a cheerful Semyl came in, cheerfully, as usual in her. Only that her joy vanished away when she saw the loving couple interrupted.

"Ops…", the red haired girl mumbled, blushing brightly. "I'll return later…", she said, softly, walking backwards to the door, slowly.

"It's alright, Semyl", Myona said, as Cage got a few meters away from her, sighing annoyed and mumbling something under his breath. "What's the matter?"

"Err… I… forget it, it can wait!", the younger girl replied quickly, smiling nervously. "I'm in the hangar, if you look for me…", she added, waving awkwardly at them from the corridor, facing the opened door.

She started walking slowly, looking at the puzzled couple, with a big, faked smile, just to show them that she was alright after getting in the room without knocking. But as she wasn't paying attention to the corridor, she bumped into Ares, who was walking along it, in his way to the hangar once again, also lost in his own business.

"Ah, Ares!", Semyl said, trying to sound normal. "Are ya alright? I didn't want to hit you", she apologized, trying to correct her slang.

"Don't worry. It was nothing", the youth replied, passing his hands over his clothes.

"Are you going to the hangar?", the red hair girl asked, grabbing his arm and walking by his side.

"Well, I was in my way to it, but I remember that I forgot something…", Ares replied, trying to get rid of Semyl's arm, somewhat brusquely, somewhat politely.

"Ah, no, you can go later for that something you forgot", the girl said quickly, pulling him forwards. The only idea that he could get into his room, which was Cage's also, and where the blue haired boy was with Myona, was something that she didn't want to see or even think, especially if he were to caught them in a situation like the one she interrupted. It may have only been a kiss, but it was a private moment for the couple, at least she thought so. She wouldn't have liked someone to get into her room if she were to be with her sweetheart.

"Is it just me or you don't want me to get near my room, Semyl?", Ares asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! It's not that!", Semyl yelled, trying to sound convincing. "It's just that… auch!", she moaned, getting pushed forwards by someone. She wasn't injured, she just ended hitting against Ares' chest, who hadn't enough time to grab the girl.

"Damn it! Today isn't my day!", Hazel complained, rubbing her nose with a hand, and her head with the other.

"Hey, what happened?", Cage asked, coming with Myona from his room, after hearing all that noise in the corridor. "Are you alright?"

"Yes", Semyl replied, facing the newcomers, and trying to recover herself from the joy of being in Ares' arms, even if accidentally. She hoped her cheeks weren't blushing too much.

"I wanted to get out of my room, and I walked out of it quickly, thinking that no one was just in front of my room, and so I ended between Semyl's head and my door", Hazel explained, sneezing, while rubbing her nose.

"Are ya blaming me?", Semyl exclaimed, rather annoyed. "Ya know this ain't a racing track to walk at high speeds!"

"I'm not blaming you!", Hazel defended herself, now with a hand on her head. "I just hadn't thought that you would be standing there!"

"Whatever, you should be more careful!", the red-haired girl went on complaining. "By the way, weren't you at the hangar, also?", she asked, changing her mood abruptly and softening a bit.

"And what's with that?", the light blue-haired youth asked, without picking the point in that question. "I left the hangar and entered through the little door in the other side", she explained. "I had to pick my tissues, one of humanity's best friends, in my opinion", she added, showing her a little envelope with tissues. "I'm having a rather nasty cold"

"And then you wanted to make a 100 meters run to the hangar in less than 10 seconds, am I wrong?", Semyl asked sarcastically.

Hazel sighed, shrugging. "I don't know", she said softly. "Don't start analyzing me, please"

"Alright", Cage said in haste. "Done with you, Hazel. Now, Semyl, what did you want before?", the blue haired boy asked, curiously.

"Ah… er… I…", the girl started mumbling, nervously.

The alarm started ringing, surprising some of the youths left at the Saoshyant. However, the fact of having an attack wasn't that surprising, though.

"What are you all doing in this kind of private reunion!?!?", Razma asked, running from the hangar. "You should have used your time to check your OFs, you know!"

The group which was originally at the corridor looked at themselves puzzled. What was with Razma and that kind of attitude, which could have been expected in someone more mature, like Robin, for example?

"Razma, are you feeling well?", Myona asked shyly.

The fire haired youth burst into laughter. "You all fall in it!", he said, chuckling. "As you can see, I can also be responsible for a little while", he grinned proudly, thing that annoyed Semyl at no extent. "Now, seriously, we should get going! They seem to be a rather small group, like before. Let's go!"

He started running to the hangar again, without waiting for his comrades response.

"Hey, you!", Semyl yelled, sill annoyed. "How are you so sure that it's a little group? Shouldn't we wait for Robin and the others before attacking in our own, also?!?"

"If you don't try, you'll never see of what you are capable", Razma replied, and went on running, now breathing heavily.

"I don't know him that much, but I think that's not like him at all", Hazel said, staring at him oddly.

*****

"Alright, on to them!", Razma yelled encouraging, taking the role of temporal leader in charge of the small BIS group.

"Idiot, are you sure this is a good idea?", Semyl asked worried. "I mean, leaving Myona all alone at the Saoshyant, taking care of Lia, while we are all here, without warning Robin and the others?"

"What? Are you chickening out?", the youth asked sarcastically. "In that case, you can leave, you know. No one said this was obligatory"

"What are ya sayin', Idiot!?!?", Semyl exclaimed angrily. "BIS is for forever, you know!! Once I'm in, I'll stay, and I'll do whatever it's necessary to help!". Folding her arms, and looking somewhat down, she added, "It's just that I don't think this was the smartest move"

"In that case, propose something else, '_Master Tactician_'", Razma went on making fun of her.

"Enough!", Cage interrupted them, with a mix of authority and laughter. "You may fight later, but not now. They shall appear at any moment"

"Oh, my, what a solemn phrase", Yukito chuckled, calmly.

Cage grinned, trying to repress his laughter.

"I think Semyl isn't so wrong", Hazel joined the conversation, leaning back in her seat. "It would have been better if we talked with Robin and the others, or even if we left this two frames at the Saoshyant, having the slight idea that they may be out to get them", she said, referring to her cousin's and to her own OF.

"Forget about it", Razma said. "We are lacking two OFs now, so don't even think in running away, if that was your intention. Besides, if everything's like in the last attacks, there's nothing to worry. We can handle it without the older ones around"

"I wonder why I can't have those bright ideas like running away", Hazel sighed, saddened.

"Come on, Hazel! Cheer up!", Cynthia exclaimed cheerfully. "Don't get so down for nothing, you ultra-responsible one!", the student went on, smiling broadly.

"You are in no position to talk", Hazel mumbled, still angry at her cousin for her childish behavior.

A group of Raptors appeared at the north, and opened fire at the BIS group. With that situation in front of her eyes, Cynthia considered it wasn't the best time to reply.

"See? Those are Raptors", Razma commented, firing his Long Rifle towards the enemy group. "I told you that…"

"I told you that you should shut up!!!", Semyl yelled angrily, charging her Star Carnival attack, and getting ready to attack an incoming group from the west. "Those aren't Mummyheads or Raptors, Idiot! Those are Cyclops!! Cyclops, do ya' remember?!?", she went on angrily, firing now her weapon. "They are stronger!"

"No need to shout like that, you know", the youth replied, pissed off. "Take care of those instead of arguing with me"

Semyl now exploded with that attitude. Her face went red, but not of embarrassment, but from anger. "I'm doing that, don't ya' see?!?!? Don't tell me what to do!!"

"Shess… she sure is angry", Cynthia mumbled, trying to knock a cyclop over with her "Green Lance"

"See? I'm not the only one who gets angry today… but not at that extent", Hazel replied her, while slicing three Raptors with her 'beam motion' attack.

"And I thought you were mad at me", the student giggled, now feeling relieved.

"Look out! Enemy reinforcements coming from both south and east!", Myona yelled from the Saoshyant, desperately.

The enemy frames were already at sight, coming in numerous groups from both sides. Still, the enemies couldn't be identified, but they seemed to be different machines than the ones used in the last few times.

"Just great", Yukito complained, trying to get rid of one Cyclop, which seemed to be great attached to Justeen's leg. He wouldn't let it go, not before Yukito blew it up, slicing it twice at its core with his frame's Laser Sword. "Just what we were needing"

"Oh, shit! Look the new frames they got", Cage cursed. As soon as he ripped apart a Raptor, he looked away, and recognized the upcoming frames.

The small upcoming army consisted of more Mummyheads, Raptors and Cyclops, but also had some more advanced OFs, like Scarmigliones and Grafficanes. The 'normal' encounter was turning into something more difficult to deal with. Behind all those frames, the Dioscuri, Ruth and Ethan's frames, appeared, guarding their back.

"Oh, Damned Hell!!", Semyl cried, in some sort of despair. "Not those again! They had really damaged my poor Cali long ago, especially that hard to pronounce one!"

"What are those?", Cynthia asked, making reference to the new reddish frames. "I don't know why I think I have saw them somewhere before"

"Maybe almost two years before, on TV", Ares replied, knocking a Cyclop over and defending the student's back. "With all that fuss about the rebels and the missiles, and all that"

"You may be right", the girl said, thoughtfully. "Thanks for that one", she thanked him, cheerfully.

"It's nothing, but don't be so carefree", the light haired youth warned her, walking away.

"Don't start acting like Hazel, I beg you! I have enough with one person to tell me what I should do and what not here!"

"Glad you know that well", the mentioned girl said, kicking a fallen Raptor which intended to do some damage to her frame. "This ones are unmanned, aren't they? In the contrary, I would feel rather guilty for having kicked one", she asked, just after kicking the enemy frame.

"Don't think about that. Concentrate on this!", Robin's voice came through the speakers, obviously annoyed. "Who told you this was going to be a good idea, children!?"

"Oopss… Hi, Robin", Razma greeted her, nervously. "How did you all do at the Labs? We can handle all this, don't worry"

"I hope you are right", Robin said, softening a little. "I guess you had considered that whoever they are, they are after the new OFs, hadn't you?"

"I guess I heard something like that before", Hazel said softly, almost like a chant, while firing her metatron gun towards a group of Scarmigliones, which were now getting near her, as well as a small group was getting near Cynthia, who was far from her.

"You never say anything, and now, in the least expected moment you are in the mood to play jokes!?!?", Razma told Hazel, rather annoyed.

"Who the damned Hell understands you, guys?!?", the light blue haired girl mumbled, annoyed. "When I don't talk, I'm odd. And when I do, I'm a weirdo, also! You know where you all can go…", she added, really pissed off. Meanwhile, she saw the opportunity and stroke an unaware Scarmiglione near her, ripping it apart with her two beam swords attack.

"Don't take it at heart. He's under pressure", Mebius' voice came from the speakers, trying to calm the girl down.

"Yup, whatever you say, but it's not fair"

The blonde woman giggled. "Concentrate in the battle. You can argue with him all the time you want after this", she said, sitting in one of the chairs at the Saoshyant, watching the battle as the rest of the remaining BIS members who were out of it.

**

"And? What do you think about the reinforcements?", Ethan asked his twin, relaxing in his cockpit. Both siblings were watching the battle at the distance, waiting for Marrek's orders to get into the battle, but until then, they'd watch it from afar.

"Well, they aren't that bad as our Raptors and Mummyheads", the blonde haired girl replied, yawning. "What's more, they aren't that stupid for unmanned units. They sure have a more developed circuit than ours"

"You may be right", the boy agreed, bored.

"When are we going to get into some action?", Ruth asked, to either her twin or to Marrek, who was still listening from their headquarters. "This is so boring… I hadn't become a runner to lay down in a cockpit and do nothing all day!"

"Patience is a virtue, Ruth", Marrek's voice said from the speaker. "Enjoy your rest for a little while. You'll need it", their superior added, mysteriously.

"Yeah, yeah, as you say", Ethan replied, mocking him. He shook his head and then sighed, tired. "I would do anything to have a good sleep in a comfortable bed, instead of being in this thing. Apart from being a mystery, they are uncomfortable"

"Can you stop complaining?!?!", Ruth asked him, sick of his behavior. "I should be the whining one, not you! Were you like that when you were in Cimmeria?", she asked, on purpose.

"You are jealous, aren't you?", her light brown haired brother asked, hitting in the correct place.

Ruth didn't answer.

"I can't understand you, Ruthee", he said, grinning. "I'm free to choose my friendships, as you are. So leave me at ease with that topic, 'kay?"

"In that case, stop calling Marrek an idiot and things like that", she said, taking advantage of a possible deal. "And don't tell me to stay away from him, yes? If so, I won't say a thing about that dark red-haired bitch", she added, enthusiastically.

"Mind your vocabulary about her", Ethan warned her, annoyed. "As far as I know, her parents weren't a couple of dogs, nor she received the visit of her animal fairy god-mother, who turned her into a human being", he said, sarcastically, taking the "bitch" word literally. "But, alright, it's a deal, as far as you don't star arguing with her"

"Yeah, yeah", Ruth mocked him, looking up. "We've got a deal, uh?"

"Alright", he said, sighing. He stayed there, silently and thoughtful for a few minutes.

"Know what, Ruth?", he asked her, calmly, a few moments after their deal, moments in which both of them remained silent. "There's a big difference between you and me. I'm not in love with Mikenne, while you _do_ have a thing for that bastard", he left in clear, calmly and triumphant at the end of his sentence. With a triumphal smile, he leaned back in his cockpit and started his frame, walking some meters away.

"I…. Wait!" Where the Hell are you going?!?!"

Just then, a video link opened, showing Marrek's face and her twin's one.

"It's a pity", Ruth thought. "I though it was going to be a private link", she added, resigned.

"How's everything there?", the green haired man asked, anxiously. "Give e a full record; I want to see if my tactic is good enough"

"Well, the worst frames, being those the Cyclops, the Mummuheads and the Raptors, are almost defeated", Ruth started enumerating, efficiently. "The newest frames, those animal like ones, are doing better. They seem to have the greenish frame under their control", she added, talking about Carpe. "The other one is doing better. Either that blue haired gal has some skill, or the other is a complete stupid when running frames concerns"

"What can you expect from a High School student?", Ethan asked, bored. "You couldn't run one when you were her age", he added, maliciously.

Ruth glared at him. "That's because I didn't have the chance to get near one! A minor detail, I guess!", she complained, shrugging.

"Listen to me well", Marrek asked for attention, interrupting the siblings argument. "This is what you are going to do: you, Ethan, go for the green OF. Ruth, you go for the grayish one. Then you'll go fishing", he explained, briefly.

Ethan stayed there, waiting for his boss to add something else, but he was over, apparently.

"No way!", Ruth cried, angrily. "I should go after Niké! It was supposed to be my OF! Why should I go after the other one?", she questioned Marrek.

"Listen to this well, Ruth", Marrek repeated, feeling that he would lose the little patience he had at anytime. "You are going after the toughest frame for two reasons: one, because I say so. The other, because it's toughest than the other one. I think you can handle that, can't you?", he said, intimidating.

Ruth lowered her head, defeated. She mumbled some things under her breath before accepting her new task.

"Once you are in a good position near them, you know what you have to do", Marrek went on. "Rest easy. With one of those OF in our hands, we can call ourselves happy", he added, lighting a cigarette.

"We are making all this fuss just to get one OF?", Ruth asked, not giving credit to her ears. "You've got to be kidding me", she mumbled, astonished.

"I'm the one in charge here, and I know how to handle this, okay?", Marrek said, starting to get angry at the siblings. "Go fishing, for once and for all!"

"Yeah, yeah, as you say", Ethan replied, starting his OF for the second time and closing the video link with him.

**

"We are almost ready with this ones", Cage reported to the group back at the Saoshyant. Effectively, the group nearest to Hazel was almost defeated, with the exception of two or three Scarmigliones which seemed determined to keep on fighting, no matter what, even if they were just some unmanned, slave units.

"Alright", Robin said, trying to calm herself down and to finally trust the youngsters. "Move to the other side. Cynthia's having some problems, and the Dioscuri are approaching", she added, checking the radar.

She didn't finish saying that, when Ethan was already next to Cynthia, ready to launch a close combat attack, in the form of a beam sword. Taking her by surprise wasn't that difficult, and so, he managed to strike Carpe straight at its core.

"Cynthia! Are you alright?!", Hazel yelled anxiously at the screen, knowing that her cousin would hear her because they had their video links active during battle. She tried to move to her cousin's direction, but she found the dark brown and grey frame, Castor, blocking her way and ready to perform one of her punch attacks.

"You aren't going anywhere", Ruth said, sort of introducing herself. "Not before tearing me into little pieces".

"I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to like that idea", Hazel replied, sighing. "Move out! What the damned hell do you want of us?!?", she asked, switching from her resigned mood into something a bit more angry.

"I'm not in the good mood of telling you", Ruth went on mocking her, with her arms folded against her chest. "Give up and give me your frame"

"If it were for me, you can have it, even with a nice ribbon on it", Hazel admitted, talking naturally.

"Hazel, what's wrong with you?!? Are you that nuts?!??!", Cynthia's voice asked desperately, while trying to evade another punch from Pollux.

"Take care of your things, Cynthia! I know what to do!", Hazel shouted to the screen, slightly disgusted. "Just move out, ok? I don't want to go on like this…", she begged Ruth.

"Yeah, yeah, as you wish", the blonde woman mocked her, yawning. With a quick movement, her frame's hand turned into a lance, and moved straight towards Hazel, who did her best to evade the sudden attack. She managed to evade it a little bit, but she got some damage, nonetheless.

The light haired girl sighed, with her eyes closed. "Ok, I have no other option but fighting. Cynthia, sometimes I hate you soooo much", she mumbled under her breath, still with her eyes closed, as she recalled how they found the OFs in first place.

Instinctively, her hand moved over the panel board, and her frame's hands turned into two beam swords. With that, she started attacking.

Ruth wasn't off-guard, but the sudden and continuous sword attacks were somewhat dizzying for her, even if she was also attacking and defending with her own sword.

"Know what?", she asked, looking carefully at the screen where Hazel's image was reflected. "You sure look like Lenneth Valkyrie, you know…", she said, grinning and hitting her in the arm.

"Arrgghhh!!! I hate that! Everyone at school called me like that!!!", the light blue haired youth yelled, both embarrassed and annoyed. "No one of our generation had anything better to do than watching that show?!?", she asked angrily, while charging her Metatron gun towards the enemy frame.

"You mean the Valkyrie Profile show, based in the late twentieth century video game?", Yukito asked interested, after attacking Ethan's frame with the intention of calling his attention so he would let Cynthia go away, but it was as if his attack had just slipped over Pollux as if it were nothing but water. "I think producers were running out of ideas and decided to pick old games and plots to make some money…"

"Yukito, can you shut up that big mouth and try to help me in getting rid of this thing?!?!?", Cynthia's voice ordered, in despair. "You can go on with your rant later!!!", she added.

She wasn't in a comfortable situation, being attacked by the silent enemy runner who, unlike his sister, wasn't establishing any kind of communication with his victim. Instead, he went on attacking, without any pause. Almost immediately, Pollux's arms switched from lances to swords, and he even attacked bare-knuckled. It was then when he grabbed Carpe from the back, making her unable to move, as she had an arm across her frame's chest and the other around its neck. The similarity between those two humanoid frames and two fighting humans was astonishing, either for good or not.

"Ruth! Leave her and come to help me!", Ethan yelled, for the first time since he began fighting. "I'm almost done with this one"

"Hey, I have a name, you know!", Cynthia yelled annoyed, trying to kick backwards the oppressing frame, but it was useless. Ethan was too strong and too attached to her frame.

"If there's something I like of her, is that she never loses her sense of humor", Razma joked, earning a glare from Semyl.

"Idiot! She's in a sticky situation and ya're thinking in girls!?!", the red hair girl yelled, her fist closed menacingly while launching her Star Carnival attack, hoping that her heavy shooting attack could do something.

"Ruth, don't waste any more time on the other one and help your brother", Marrek got into the conversation, seriously.

The mentioned girl sighed, resigned. "You don't have to say it twice, I'm going", she said, disgusted.

Slowly, her brownish frame left Hazel at ease, just to move quickly next to Cynthia, who was still trying to do at least a little damage to Ethan, if she couldn't run away, but she was failing. She was also next to run out of energy. Her situation wasn't the best for what she had ahead.

"Ruth, now that you are there, launch the fishermen", Marrek ordered, firmly.

She stayed thoughtfully for a little while, but then, while pressing some keys in her control panel, she said, monotonous, "Alright. You know what you are doing and what you have in mind"

Then, while being attacked by BIS, a pair of small objects appeared, coming from Castor's hands. They were two little Metatron objects, in the shape of small boxes. They moved cautiously, not being affected by any of the attacks that the desperate BIS team launched at them. Cage's Beam Arrow slippered; Hazel's Dual Beam Motion, with her two swords, was nothing more than a breeze. The LEVs –Caliburnus, Justeen and Dreizhen- firepower couldn't do anything, nor Ares on the Vyaja and the Beam Web.

Finally, they stopped, just to get attached to Carpe's legs, and to send a strange impulse to the trapped frame. Both electrical and Metatron lines were visible while those two things got attached to Cynthia, who started screaming at that time. In a few moments, the lights were gone. As well as Cynthia's voice: as soon as the lights were gone, her scream ended.

"Cynthia!", Hazel yelled, almost jumping into the screen. No answer.

Pollux's arms opened, and Carpe fall in the ground, hitting it hard.

"Well done. I knew those fishermen would be the solution", Marrek acknowledged his own planning ability and the siblings, in second term. "Come with that frame"

"What about the other?", Ethan asked, while picking Carpe from the ground, as if it were a small toy that a child had left forgotten in the ground.

"Forget about it", the green haired man said, polishing his nails. "With one it is enough"

"What?!?! All this fuss for just one frame!?!?!?", the light brown haired young men asked, astonished and evading a furious Hazel attack. "You are gonna get it"

"Yeah, yeah", Marrek mocked him, bored. "Retreat, I tell you! The reinforcements will handle this!", he ordered, with the characteristically signs of his lack of patient: hurry and hysteria.

He didn't have to say it to see that the reinforcements were ahead. A new group of frames, composed entirely of Grafficanes and Scarmigliones was coming from the north. In less than five minutes, they would be in the battle zone.

Ethan turned back, and with Carpe in his arms, he rushed to the north, not caring in evading any attacks. After all, Ruth was looking his back, in her retreat. However, none of them were feeling rather well about the situation…

*****

As they were retreating, Hazel was rushing at their backs, trying to fix his video link with Cynthia, with no success. She was teary eyed, struggling against herself to not give up and start crying like a baby. There was no time for remorse right now. She had to at least give it a try and return to the Saoshyant with her cousin.

Behind her, the rest of the BIS members were also rushing, in a desperate try to help the newcomer. Instead, in the Saoshyant, they couldn't be in such an anxious state.

The enemy reinforcements were now in front of them, blocking the path. As before, they draw a circle around the BIS gang, and started attacking. The Grafficane's Flame Gales, attacking from afar, and the Scarmigliones with their Beatrices, in close combat, were turning the area in a mess of Metatron, with no escape but defeating each one of them.

Hazel pushed hard and attacked constantly, seeing her cousin getting further and further with each second. Filled with rage and despair, she stopped attacking, and began pushing harder than before. Luckily, she made a hole in the OFs barrier and got through it. However, the Dioscuri were far ahead, and she knew it would be nearly impossible to get nearer them with her OF. Anyway, she was decided to give it a try, if it weren't for a Scarmiglione's Chain Flame that hit her from the back, just along were the dorsal spine would be, in the case of humans. With her minimal hope shattered into pieces with that shot, she let her OF go down and hit hard the ground, before cutting the video connection and letting herself to cry desperately, like a year and some ago, when she thought she would never cry like that time. She was so disconnected of everything, that she didn't noticed that a violet frame was the one that got rid of the Scarmiglione that made her fall.

*****

Now, it was late in the afternoon. Everyone else made it back safely to the Saoshyant, filled of rage, sorrow and impotence, in different degree in each one of them. With good judgement, neither Robin nor Twede sermonized them at their return, thing that was somewhat positive.

The male members of BIS were all at the hangar, checking the OFs status after the tiring battle. The LEVs took the worst part, at an equal rate: the three were in bad shape, in the same state. Hazel's OF was one of the ones that got it worse, also. Being one of the targets of the unknown enemy, it was highly scratched and with various marks of attacks. Anyway, Will and the Vyaja weren't that well, even though their runners made an admirable work to avoid the attacks. But without any doubts, the one that was in a calamitous state had to be Carpe, and they couldn't do anything about it.

Meanwhile, the female group was in the main room, worried. Hazel wasn't there, though.

"Should I go for Hazel?", Mebius asked, coming into the main room from Lia's one, where she left the little girl resting.

"She asked to be alone for a while", Myona replied, trying to look natural, but she was as shocked as the others.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?", Mebius insisted, picking a cup of coffee to wake her up. She decided to stay awake that night to see if she could find something in the radar that would take them to Cyntia again.

"Let her alone for another while, if that's what she wants", Robin said, resigned. "Since she returned here she has been locked in that room"

"But she left after we got here again, right?", Semyl asked, taciturnly. This had to be one of the few moments in her life in which she wasn't cheerful.

"She went to her cousin's home, to disconnect the phone. In case Cynthia's mother calls, she'll think she's talking on the telephone and not that she's missing", Robin explained, helping herself some coffee, too. "I think she also went to see if she could find Cynthia at some hospital, but she wasn't successful"

"But are you sure she did that?", Myona asked, her voice next to a whining. She understood how Hazel felt, loosing a really close relative, and she couldn't help remembering the day she thought her brother had died.

"I don't know", Robin replied, worried. "She crossed the door and went straight to her room, without saying anything, so I think she did. She won't stay with her arms folded until her cousin returns back, and I'm still surprised that she hadn't taken her frame and left on her search"

"Even if she wanted to leave with her frame, she couldn't. It can barely walk", Ares explained, coming into the room and taking both Semyl and his sister by surprise, as they weren't expecting him to come in. "And I would say that none of the frames is available to do a patrol, with the exception of the civilian LEVs, but I wouldn't like to be attacked while being inside one of those", he added, drinking all of a sudden a cup of water.

"That was tough, and it hurt", Semyl said, her head laying over her arms. "Are they so spoiled?", she asked, with some pity in her voice.

"Well… a bit", the light haired youth replied, his hand sliding through his messy hair. "But it could have been worse, that's for sure"

"Let's go and have a look", Robin said, standing up. "It's better than being here, crying over the spilt milk"

"In that you are right", Semyl said, smiling lightly. "You'll have to repair well my Cali. I'm a demanding runner, after all!", she exclaimed, trying to look cheerful and to lighten the atmosphere a bit, but she knew she wouldn't make it with that cheap attempt. However, she wasn't going to give in to despair, nor she was going to allow anyone else to do so, with the only exception of Hazel, which was something obvious.

"Guess I'm going", Myona said, shrugging.

"What about you, Mebius?", Robin asked from the hallway, where she was with the other girls and Ares, on their way to the hangar.

"Shouldn't we take Hazel, also?", she asked, looking to the mentioned girl's door. "I know how she feels, and that she may want to be alone for a while, but I also have lived through those dark moments and I know the bad effects that being alone in a desperate state produces. You start thinking too much and you want to do something stupid…"

"Leave her alone for a another little while", Robin suggested, softly. "We can't help her much now, nor we can answer to her questions, so… What's more, I think she'll take it worse if she goes to the hangar and sees her frame in bad shape and her cousin's not there… Don't worry, Meb, she'll be fine", she said, smiling lightly.

"If you say so…", Mebius gave in, shrugging and walking to them.

"You got fond of her, haven't you?", Semyl asked curiously. She wasn't jealous, she was just curious.

"For some unknown reason, yes", the blonde haired woman admitted, smiling. "I don't know why, but I like her, even if I don't have a fluid relation like with you or the rest", she explained. "It's just that… I don't know. Sometimes she looks like a little child that needs some care… and sometimes, she reminds of myself in my dark times"

"But she needs another kind of care… that of a boyfriend, not a mother-like one", Semyl replied, giggling and looking at Ares, who was walking at her side.

At the giggles of the rest of the girls, and knowing that his 'passive' strategy wasn't successful to evade the jokes, the light haired boy made an annoyed face, and walked faster, splitting from the group.

*****

Finally, Hazel came out of her room. Her eyes were bright red from all the tears she had shed, and that she was still shedding, as her grief was too intense. Since she got in her bedroom, she had been crying, with little pauses in which she thought in other minimal details that made her cry even more than before. If it weren't for a hiccups attack, she wouldn't have left her room.

She was walking more like a zombie than a human being, tired and annoyed. She made her way awkwardly and weakened to the table, where a jar of water and a glass could be found. Thinking about Cynthia, she sat down, blaming herself at every second.

She poured herself a glass of water, which she drank immediately. She couldn't think in any other thing. Her mind was repeating the same scene over and over: those two strange devices attached to Carpe, and her cousin's scream. Then, it came the moment in which she fall down, as well as her hope of getting Cynthia back. All her thoughts were related to that. At least, she was lucky enough and her uncle and aunt were out of town. On the contrary, she wouldn't be there, but next to be six feet under the Martian ground.

Lack of responsibility. Immature. Weak. Still trapped in the past. Proud and stubborn. Idiot. Stupid. And the list went on. While her mind played again the pictures of that evening, her conscience was hammering her head with those words. Feeling like a haunted person, she crossed her arms over the table and buried her head in them, giving in to her cries, once again.

Along the corridor, footsteps could be heard, coming nearer at each step. However, she didn't react, but tried to stop crying. Whoever it would be, he or she would try to sympathize with her, and she didn't want neither that nor their pity. She was too conscious of her proud nature.

The footsteps stopped at the end of the corridor. Whoever it was, it stopped walking and stayed a there staring in her direction before talking.

"Still crying?", Ares' taciturn, characteristic voice asked, a bit rudely.

The light blue hair girl looked in his direction, trying to contain the new tears which were struggling to get away from her eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't want to be that rude", he apologized, sitting in one of the chairs, facing her. "I know how you feel, but crying won't do anything about this…"

"And what do you want me to do?", Hazel asked abruptly, angrily. "It's so easy to talk, but that won't do anything about this, also", she replied back, aggressively.

Ares stayed silent, laying back in the chair. He wouldn't talk again until she did it, and he wouldn't leave the room, not until he was sure she would be better, or she asked him to get out, or when he knew he couldn't do anything else.

On the other hand, his presence was somewhat uncomfortable for her. Having him there, staring at her like that wasn't of her likes. "Don't you have anything better to do?", she asked him, with her head buried in her arms again.

Silence was his answer.

"Oh, great! Now I have offended you, haven't I?", she asked, raising her head and staring in his way, expecting to see an angry or annoyed look in his face.

On the contrary, Ares wasn't serious, but he wasn't smiling lightly, also.

"The more I see you, the least I understand you", Hazel said, dropping herself softly over the table. Her head was now resting over her crossed left arm, while her right arm laid in the table. Being at silence again, she started sobbing once again.

"You should try to rest and stop crying", Ares suggested, grabbing her right hand, the one in the table. "You can't do anything in this state. You can't do a patrol at night with none of our LEVs or OFs. In the shape you are now, you can't even walk two blocks. You should go and take a rest. Tomorrow it will be another day"

Hazel looked back, surprised. Her sight traveled from her right hand, still hold by him, and run to his face, where she met his eyes. Sobbing, she replied, "It's so easy to say it…"

"I know this isn't the same, but you aren't alone. We'll help you to find her again, and we'll find her safe and sound, and…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know", Hazel interrupted him, ironically. "'You aren't alone', 'Look at what you have, you aren't in such a really bad situation as you think you are'… You can have it al for yourself, all those sympathetic phrases", she said, firmly, yet weakly. "If you tell me that you have experienced this before, it would be the most pathetic and sympathetic phrase I have ever heard or known", she added, still ironically and smiling mockingly.

Ares sighed, thinking in how difficult she was. "I haven't gone under something exactly like this, but you can bet I had also had my 'pretty little' troubles", he said, holding her hand tighter. "I would tell you everything, but it's not the moment nor the place. You would fell like jumping from a ninth floor, if you don't feel like doing it now"

Hazel looked at him strangely, not picking entirely the meaning of his words. "I know everyone has problems… Ares, if I go on talking, I'll say things that I'll regret later. Can't you leave me alone? I'll be here a little while and then I'll return to my room, but I want to be alone, alone", she asked, picking another tissue, the last one in her package.

"Are you sure you don't want or need to talk?", he insisted, standing up.

She raised her head again, meeting his eyes for a new time. Then, she buried her head again in her folded arms, and stayed there, silently.

Knowing it would be useless to insist, Ares walked to the corridor, but instead of getting out of the main room, he walked back to it. There, he went to the old, but still faithful computer, which was just used to play some old and basic video games, and where the BIS members had some of their private files, and started searching for something. It didn't take him long to find it, and, after clicking the file, he went to the hallway again, and this time left.

Slowly, the characteristic piano ballad started playing, filling the former silent room, previously interrupted by Hazel's sobs. As the song was playing, the desperate girl started to feel different, and, slowly, her tears were drying up. It was such the peace she was feeling at that moment, while listening to that anonymous song, that she wanted that instant to last forever.

She dried up her tears and stood up. She searched with her sight the room, but found out that Ares was already gone. She walked to the hallway, just to see Ares' back from afar, almost getting into the hangar.

With a light smile, a smile of gratitude, she went back to the main room, and stayed there, laying over a sofa, until the song ended, or her grief would pass away, whichever option happened first.

********

Notes:

'Valkyrie Profile' is not my property, obviously. For those who don't know about it, it's a PS game heavily based in Norse mythology (and, by the time of this revision, it has been remade for the PSP, and it has a sequel –VP Silmeria- for the PS2... oh, a NDS game, also). I haven't played it, but it seems something interesting. And Lenneth Valkyrie, the main character and the valkyrie from the title, looks like the image I have of Hazel (but Hazel's prettier :P) in my mind. Really, it's scaring (giggle) At the moment, I think there isn't an anime based on it (but there are some mangas), but with ZoE taking place in the future, it's not that improbable.


	13. Ray of Light

Chapter 13: "Ray of Light"

The giant, red Orbital Frame made its way inside the hangar, slowly and carefully. From the cockpit, Marrek could be seen waving stupidly at the frame, showing her the place where she should "park" it. As if she hadn't realized before…

With a few movements, the frame reached its place, and the runner stopped it. She would have wanted to stay a bit more inside the cockpit, but Marrek was already there, waiting for her anxiously, so she had no option but leaving her comfortable cockpit.

She looked at it once more before leaving. She couldn't understand how easily she got used to her new frame, being that she had just had it for less than a year. She felt it as something close to her, even if it was nothing more than a pile of Metatron and other materials altogether. Noticing Marrek's impatience from the cockpit, she knew she had to leave her so loved Ifrit, just to exchange some words and boring chit-chat with the Hellespontos branch's superior.

"Finally, you have arrived!", Marrek exclaimed, his voice showing respect and impatience at the same time. "I thought you would never get out from your frame", he added, giving his hand to the dark red haired runner, in order to help her getting out from the frame.

The tall, slim built frame runner finally put her feet on the ground, coming into contact with the lights again. She had long, dark red hair tied up in a sort of ponytail, tied up with a hair brooch, with part of her fringe to her left, without covering her eye. She was wearing a pair of black trousers and leather boots, and a black and blue t-shirt, covered by a blue jacket. She had a serious, somewhat lost expression, and meeting Marrek again didn't seem so pleasing. She seemed much more mature than what she really was. Her seriousness made her looked more like a late twenties young woman, instead of the twenty two-year-old youth she was.

"I was going to get out from it sooner or later, so I don't see why you make this fuss", Mikenne said, yawning. "How are things going here?", she asked, abruptly.

Marrek blinked twice, exaggerating it. "Looks like you are eager to work", he commented, looking at her from head to toe. "She hasn't changed in anything… that's good", he thought, while waiting for her answer.

"Is anything wrong with me?", she asked harshly, noticing Marrek's glance towards her.

"Nothing", he said, smiling mysteriously. "Well… we got back one of our frames yesterday, with an enemy runner on it. Those fishermen are splendid", he explained, grinning proudly.

"Great. I thought you wouldn't make it without the instruction manual", the girl replied sarcastically, looking around the hangar. "What happened with the frames I sent you with the fishermen? This hangar looks a bit desolated…"

Marrek made a long pause without replying. "You won't share my methods", he said, as if he were ashamed of himself. "Most of them suffered some damages in the last battle, and a few ones are already lost. But we could retrieve the frame with my strategy", he added, leaving that apparent guilt aside.

Mikenne looked oddly at him for a while, as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard. "You must be joking", she said, finally. "I told you to use them wisely, not all of a sudden! Are you deaf or what?!?", she started yelling, loosing the little patience she had.

"You were coming with more frames, or weren't you?", Marrek asked back, trying to remain calm and to avoid pushing her or something like that. "I'm the one who takes the decisions here, you just came here to help a bit because you were bored back at Elysium, or am I wrong?!?", he added, with his index finger up, as some form of threaten towards her.

Mikenne looked down, silently. "You don't get it completely", she said, without looking at him. "She ordered me to come here. I could have been transferred somewhere else, instead of staying in the already lost Elysium County, for your information".

"Oh, so she was the main reason why you are here…", the green haired man said, getting a bit calmer. "How's my favorite red-haired doing? Is she alone?", he asked, all of a sudden.

Mikenne rolled her eyes, and sighed bitterly. "You have your brain in your pants, did you know that?", she stated, folding her arms across her chest, and closing her eyes, hoping that when she would open them again she wouldn't be there. But she knew it was impossible.

"I already knew that", Marrek said indifferently. "Now, tell me! Is she still single?", he counter-attacked, anxiously.

Now that was puzzling for Mikenne, who opened her eyes all of a sudden, still distrusting of what she had heard an instant before. She couldn't understand his enthusiasm for someone who would barely recall him. "Ok, I'll tell you", she said, shrugging. "But why do you want to know, if you already know how's her? She would kick you out of her sight whenever she loses interest on you, you know…", she started saying, but she stopped halfway in her speech. "But why do I tell you this, if you are just like her! I guess you had already dumped Ruth, so… Yes, she's single", she finally replied, letting go a deep breath.

"Yahoo!", Marrek exclaimed, throwing a fist to the air cheerfully. "Now, do you know if she will pay us some visit?"

"I wish she wouldn't", Mikenne whispered, just to raise her head and reply strongly, "She said she would come if we can't deal with that BIS by ourselves, but she thinks we will handle that. She also thinks that with the reinforcements that are coming and my Ifrit we will do a good job, specially in the psychological path", she reported, looking at her nails, as she hadn't anything else to do. "Now, can you show me the facilities? If this is going to be my new home for the time being, I want to know where am I, and not to mistook the dorms, unless some mischievous entity tells me wrong…", she said, looking at a nervous smiling Marrek by the corner of her eye.

*****

"Where… where am I?", Cynthia asked weakly. Her green eyes moved slowly and blinked twice before she could wake up completely. A blinding light made her close them again, even weaker than before. Finally, she got used to that light, and could open her eyes completely.

She got up slowly, feeling dizzy. She sat down in that sort of metallic bed, and took a look at her surroundings. It was a medium size room, with gray walls and a couple of bright white light bulbs, the source of that blinding light.

"How in Hell did I get here?", she asked herself loudly, looking desperately at both sides, trying to find something familiar in that prison like room. As if it were a dream, or something that she had seen in some movie, she remembered everything. The image of those little things getting nearer her frame, and that electronic impulse flowing through it came to her mind, striking her. After that, she lost consciousness. And now… she was in some unknown place, far from her known people.

She run to the door in despair. There were no windows on it, giving the room the aspect of an hermetic box without exit. She pushed the door hard, but nothing happened. With her despair flooding her completely, she let her body slide against the door, while she gave into tears, the most bitter ones she cried in the last months. If, at least, she were the only one in trouble… but she also drove Hazel into it. All because of her impulsiveness, her youthful dreams and her desire of facing authority. Now it was time to pay for it. But if she were the only one to pay, she would have felt better than now, knowing that wherever her cousin was, she would have to deal with her parents and a big trouble.

She was thinking in all that, and in her parent's attitude towards her cousin when she heard footsteps coming. It wasn't just one person, they were two at least. Drying up her tears with her shirts sleeve, she tried to stop crying and moaning. She got nearer the door, and listened carefully. Maybe she could try to pick some interesting data.

"Well, this is one of the side corridors. If you go along this one, you'll get into the main room, the data room and the cafeteria", Marrek's voice explained, after a small yawn. "Now, before we go on… Have you brought that file I`ve asked you before?", he asked, changing his mood to a more confidential one.

"Why do you ask everything more than once?", Mikenne asked, tired. "Of course I brought it! I still don't understand why you would want that old record… it has nothing to do with us. It's just part of a close past, but nothing else", she added, irritated.

Marrek chuckled, feeling somewhat superior over Mikenne's lack of interest or idea about his plans. "I'll explain you later the idea in detail, but I'll tell you some bits and pieces to calm down your curiosity", he said, mysteriously. "We have found out that the 'returned from death' Vale Shatner is sticking with BIS, under his fake name… does it ring a bell?", he asked, waiting for the red hair girl to congratulate him at once.

Instead, Mikenne raised an eyebrow. "And?", she asked, more irritated than before. "He's of no use to us anymore, so… why would you want to mess with him? He doesn't know more than what he did before, and nothing of all that could be useful for BIS or for anyone else nowadays… What we had in mind before has already been applied. For God's sake, leave that guy at ease and focus on other things! Everybody else thinks we have already disappeared, so there's no reason to waste our time on that", the tall girl said all of a sudden, feeling anger towards Marrek.

The green haired man moved his head disapprovingly. "Ah, Mikenne, Mikenne… you don't understand a single thing", he said, slowly. "Why would I mess with him if, as you already said, he's for no use to us anymore? Sometimes I don't understand how she trusts so much in you…", he added, making reference to their common superior. "He's not my problem. BIS is. And with that file, I could make some fuss among them. Open some old, maybe not so healed wounds. Do you understand? He did a pretty horrible thing, don't you think so? Even if no one would react that badly, they will miss time and will be psychologically down, and that gives us some slight advantages. Do you see the point now?"

Mikenne walked two steps backwards, infuriated. "You are a damned psycho!", she whispered, frowning. "Can't you leave them at ease? We already have one of the OFs, then we got the other and do our business, without messing with them. Instead, you waste your time thinking in more and more complicated plans to achieve your goals… Can't you do things more directly?!?"

Marrek chuckled again, as he approached her. "Look who's talking!", he exclaimed ironically, grabbing her chin somewhat softly. "You are a frame runner. Should I remember you that you go from a place to the other killing other frame runners, who may have a family on their backs, or do you already know that?"

"At least I don't grant them a slowly, painful death, nor I depress them", she said, pushing the green haired man backwards. "My job is quicker and cleaner"

"Yeah, yeah, as you say", Marrek mocked her, folding his arms. "Now, let's go, we'll go on later with this… but look who are coming right now!", he said, looking forward into the corridor. "The Cromwell siblings! As if they had known you had just arrived!"

That statement took Mikenne by surprise, who couldn't help repressing her state. Getting nearer with each step, the blonde Ruth and the light brown haired Ethan walked through the corridor, in direction to the hangar.

"Oh, crap!", Ruth mumbled, annoyed. She wasn't expecting Mikenne to arrive that soon. Her new and internal battle was just in front of her eyes.

"Hi", Ethan greeted, a bit lost in his thoughts when he saw Mikenne, who looked down, as if she was embarrassed.

"So you came to greet our newcomer?", Marrek asked, noticing Ruth's annoyance and the impact that Mikenne's return produced on Ethan. "You are quite an example of dedicate subordinates"

"We were on our way to the hangar… sir", Ruth said, offended, adding the 'sir' part as a way to exteriorize it.

"Well, I was going to show her the facilities, so I think we'll have a reunion later, after she's set up in her room", the green haired man said, looking thoroughly at Ruth. "See you later", he added, pushing Mikenne's back gently, as a sign for her to start walking.

"Yes, sir", Ruth went on, ironically, while she grabbed her lost in thoughts brother from the arm tightly, and drove him into the hangar, preventing him from looking back.

Back in his prison like room, Cynthia pushed the door once again, but it wouldn't open.

"Vale Shatner… in BIS… who the hell was him?", she asked herself, laying in the floor. "That name rings a damn bell, I know…"

Slowly, a blurred image appeared in her mind. It was an image displayed in the TV set at her home, where a boy not much older than what she now was, was being showed, in the middle of an agitation speech that he was giving. Slowly, the image was becoming more and more clear, as well as more familiar.

"Fucking Hell we are living in…", she mumbled, closing her eyes tightly, while she gave into her tears again.

*****

With the sound of the table being set, Hazel awoke, uncertain about where she was. It wasn't her room, obviously, and Myona, Semyl, Robin and Mebius' faces over her soon explained it better. She must have fallen asleep at the main room.

"Where am I?", she asked dizzily. She also had a strange pain in her eyes, product of her continuous cries, a physical pain that she knew far too well, and that she would have given everything to not experiment again in her entire life.

"You fall asleep in the main room, with a nice 'bedtime song'", Semyl explained, softy, pointing with her thumb to the old computer.

Hazel nodded, silently. She looked at a jacket she had over her. It wasn't her jean jacket, but a dark purple jogging one, instead. She looked at it oddly, without understanding how it got there, or why she had it.

Myona, noticing this, picked it. "This is Ares' jacket. You left yours in your room", the light purple girl explained softly. "I'll give it to him when he comes for breakfast"

"He found you asleep here when he came to shut down the PC, and thought you may be a bit cold", Mebius added, smiling. "He thought it wouldn't be a good idea to carry you to your room while you were asleep. You would have awaken then and a not so nice situation would have taken place", she explained, cheerfully.

Semyl looked in another direction while Mebius explained all that. Even if she knew Ares would never see her as she would have wanted him to do, the only thought of that scene taking place between both of them was something odd to her.

"I see…", Hazel mumbled softly, her cheeks turning bright red. "Have you found Cynthia?", she asked then, sitting in the sofa and switching the topic abruptely.

The girls looked at each other before replying, with a sad expression.

"We found nothing at the radar", Mebius said, trying to sound strong, but her voice was monotonous.

"I… I have to start searching for her!", Hazel exclaimed, standing up and trying to walk to the door, but she was stopped by everyone there, who, with some effort, managed to make her sit down again.

"Hazel, in the state you are right now, you can barely walk, with too much luck", Robin told her, getting serious. "After we have breakfast, we'll see what we should do"

"If there's no other way…", the light blue haired girl replied, drying up some small tears with her arm.

*****

"And well… that was all", Marrek said, leaning against a wall and ending with his guided tour. "What do you think about our little base?", he asked, yawning. He had just finished showing her the entire hidden complex.

"It's not that bad", Mikenne replied, leaning in the opposite wall, facing him. "At least yours looks much prettier than the one in Cimmeria, which looked like a shanty-town. However, Elysium HQs were superb. It's a pity we lost the possibilities to stay there…", she complained, thoughtfully.

Suddenly, Marrek walked to her, and grab her from her waist, pulling her towards him.

"What's the matter why you?!?", she yelled angrily, knowing what would come next, as he had already used that tactic with her.

"Oh, c'mon! Don't tell me you don't like it!", the green haired man said offended, holding her tighter. "You all want guys to take the initiative"

"Leave me, I tell you!", Mikenne yelled again, trying to get away from him, without much success. He had his hands sort of attached to her hips, and wouldn't let her go. "What is the matter? You can't have one red-hair and so you come to me while you can't have her, uh?", she asked, bitterly, trying to escape.

"Don't take me for that kind of low individual, Mikenne", he told her, pulling her to him again. "You must have been quite lonely in the last few months… C'mon!"

"Idiot! Leave her at once or I'll blow your head!", Ethan yelled, placing a gun against Marrek's skull. He had his finger at the trigger, ready to shoot.

"Oh, my! Your savior has came!", the green haired man said ironically.

"Alright, you aren't leaving her at ease, so…", the light brown haired youth said, grabbing Marrek from the neck with his other hand. His voice was as cold as ice, and he showed complete determination. He wasn't afraid of pulling the trigger; what's more, he seemed eager to do it.

"Ethan, don't!", Mikenne ordered, sharply.

"Alright, alright, you win", Marrek said, releasing Mikenne. "Why should I get shot by this idiot, and for someone who can't see what's good and what's not", he asked himself loudly, while he walked away from them. He walked a few meters and then he got into his room, the one furthest from them.

Just then, Ethan put down his gun and put it in its case.

"You shouldn't have point him with that", Mikenne told him, disapprovingly.

Ethan looked at her oddly. "Is that the way you thank me?", he asked her, ironically. "You shouldn't have yelled if you didn't want someone to came and prevent him of taking you to his bed"

The red haired girl looked down, trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

"Anyway… Do you mind sharing a cup of coffee with me?", the young man said, looking for something in one of his coat's pockets.

Mikenne's eyes widened, puzzled. "A cup of coffee? Why?", she asked, astonished. "I had already had breakfast…"

"That's a cheap excuse", Ethan said, laughing. "Take it as a kind of celebration… We meet again, after some time…", he added, his voice turning a bit softer. "It won't take much time, I promise"

Mikenne hesitated for a brief second. "Alright", she replied, smiling very lightly.

*****

Just after she finished swallowing her cup of coffee, Hazel got up from the table and rushed to the hangar. She checked she had all her ID cards with her, as well as her driving license, and the civilian LEV keys, of course. Once she make herself sure everything was ok, she got into the civilian LEV parked in the Saoshyant's hangar.

"Hey, wait a second!", a male voice yelled.

The light blue haired girl looked back to see who called her. Surprisingly, she saw Ares running to the LEV. He opened its door and got in, throwing his purple jacket in one of the empty seats.

"What are you doing here?", Hazel asked, frowning. She knew what he was upon, and she didn't want him to stay with her. Not because she had a personal issue against him, but because she wanted to be alone, instead.

"You can't go alone", he replied, after releasing a deep breath. "I have two reasons: one, because you aren't well, both physically and emotionally; and two: if you were to find her, you would need some other help, don't you think so?", he asked, folding his arms.

Hazel sighed softly, defeated. "Ok, you may be right, but I still want to be alone, to do it alone", she said, toughly.

"Whatever, but you won't make me leave this LEV. Now, move to the other seat", he said, impatiently.

"What?", Hazel asked, puzzled. Her eyes would have been opened wide if she had had more strength than what she had at that moment.

"What you heard", Ares insisted, seriously. "In your current state, you'll crash against the first stone you'll find, so I'll be the driver. Now, move", he repeated, picking his glasses from its case.

Moaning and mumbling for herself, Hazel moved to the companion's seat, obediently. He was right. She was still feeling dizzy and eager to cry; however, she wasn't going to show it.

"Now it's better", Ares said, starting the LEV's engine.

But Hazel didn't reply. She put her seat belt on and looked in the other direction through the small window, ignoring him completely.

*****

"And? You don't have anything new to tell me?", Ethan asked Mikkene, drinking some of his coffee. Since they got into the cafeteria –a small room with two tables, eight chairs and a coffee maker machine- and made the coffee, the red hair girl had been silent, without even emitting a soft sound. If it wasn't that he knew her, he would have pinched her to check she was still alive.

Mikkene smiled very lightly, looking down at her cup of coffee. "What do you want me to tell you?", she asked, as if she were annoyed. "Elysium isn't that great, and my duty is the same everywhere so… I don't find anything interesting to tell you"

"How have you been, for example?", Ethan asked, leaving his cup on the table. "That's a good question and a good place to start"

The red haired girl bit her lip, thoughtfully. "I was OK, I suppose", she replied, shrugging. "After our little Cimmeria branch got split, I went to Elysium, thing that you already knew. I was made head of there, but there wasn't much to do, so I was transferred here, to aid you, your sister and your boss in your battle against BIS. She thinks it won't take much time…"

"That 'she' is the person I have on mind?", Ethan asked, bored. "'Catwoman'?"

For the first time, Mikenne smiled with more strength, showing her teeth. Her laugh was almost a whisper, and her lips were just a bit separated than what they were seconds ago, when she was silent. "That's the best nick I have ever heard for her, even if it's silly and naive", she said, still smiling lightly. "She really looks like a cat"

"I would say she's a cat, but well, you already know my opinion", Ethan went on, virtually patting himself on the shoulder for his achievement, for making her laugh, at least for a second. "Tell me she's not coming, for God's and my poor self sakes!", he pleaded, playing desperate. "I have enough with Marrek, you know"

"Rest easy. She thinks it won't be necessary her presence here. Sleep well", she told him, relaxed. That "sleep well" phrase came from old saying that could be used instead of "rest easy"

"I love that expression!", Ethan chuckled, entertained.

"I know", Mikenne replied, sipping some of her coffee. "You had a laughter attack the first time you heard it"

"It still sounds funny to me"

The red hair girl now smiled fully, closing her eyes. "Is there someone who can understand you?", she asked, shyly. "You have just came from pointing someone with a gun, ready to shot, and now you laugh at the weirdest expression"

"I think there isn't", Ethan admitted, leaning back in his chair, staring at the roof. "But our profession is like this. We can be in the middle of a battle at a moment, tearing apart lots of frames, without knowing certainly if there are people inside them, and half an hour late we can be at our home, watching TV, playing with the computer or even kissing our beloved ones when we could have left other people with their beloved ones… It's a sarcastic, bitter world…"

Mikenne didn't reply, but stayed silent, playing with her empty cup of coffee. "I would bet everything that my presence makes you so philosophical", she said, her eyes fixed in the cup she had in her hands. "In what concerns me, all that is true, but I don't even bother anymore. I had already tried to find an answer, and I found nothing, so this is what I take everything as granted. It's my job, it's my life, and that's it".

Ethan whistled. "Nice answer. Looks like you spent some time trying to memorize it", he said, sarcastically.

Mikenne looked at him, sort of annoyed. "I hadn't came here, to Hellespontos, to have some free psychology sessions, so stop with this. In what refers to you, you seemed eager to pull that trigger. Reasons?"

"Hahaha. It was time I could talk seriously to someone!", Ethan exclaimed, happily; thing that puzzled Mikenne even more than what she was. "I would like to blow up his skull because: a) I can't stand him, and I don't think I'll ever will; b) he's a jerk; c) he loves to mess around with you, girls, and to dump you when you are mad about him; d) it would be satisfying", he explained, enumerating with his fingers his reasons as he said them.

Mikenne chuckled lightly, as she was feeling more comfortable around him. "From all those reasons, I think that the first two are proper of a jealous brother, the third one is a bit too over-protective and the last one is rubbish; a piece of rubbish that you don't even believe"

Ethan raised an eyebrow. Now, he was the surprised one. "And how can you tell all that?", he asked, annoyed.

"Because I think I know you. From that, I think you wouldn't feel well even after killing him. However, you have improved and you hide your true emotions well", she said, looking at her nails. "Oh, Goodness! I really need to pay more attention to my fingers and nails from time to time!"

"Wow. And then you say that I have changed", Ethan replied, sort of offended.

"Changes are always welcome, but I would only accept them if they are for good. In what concerns you, I think that you are doing well hiding a bit your true feelings. You could get hurt easier if everyone can see them directly, at least that's what I think".

"You couldn't be more wrong. Now I show more my feelings than what I used to do before", he corrected her, standing up and giving her his back. "Before I left, Marrek may have thought that I didn't like him much, but now he knows that I hate him. That's a small example"

"Well, you seemed much tougher when I found you at the corridor, and you wouldn't have pointed at Marrek with a gun before, I can bet that", she defended herself. There was something strange between them, something that she couldn't tell what it was.

"Well, that means I have changed, finally!", Ethan exclaimed, turning back and facing her again. "Maybe it's not that bad"

"Maybe", Mikenne said. She stood up from her chair, and without any other words, she left the room, leaving Ethan behind with his words right in his mouth.

"I hate when she does this", the light brown haired boy mumbled, surprised. "However, I still think she's the coolest person here"

*****

Hazel got into the civilian LEV teary-eyed for the second time in the day. Even without staring at her, Ares knew she had found no news from her disappeared cousin. There was something in her way of walking, in the her whole self that showed that she got nothing new.

"Should we go to her house?", the light haired youth asked, as soon as she sat on her seat.

"For what?", Hazel asked, leaning against the seat, covering her face with her hands, while she burst into tears once again. "She won't be there, so why should I torture myself by returning there?", she asked him rhetorically, as she wasn't expecting him to answer. "If she were there, she would have called me…", she added, leaning her head against the window, sobbing.

The LEV was in complete silence, just interrupted by Hazel's sobs. Ares couldn't think in any good phrases to comfort her, and she wasn't in the mood to receive any of those cheap, emotionless phrases. However, she didn't seem to be in the mood to receive any kind of sympathy, being it either cheap or sincere. She was just a big interrogation mark to him. Maybe he liked her because she reminded of himself so much. Sometimes he thought she was like a female mirror image of himself in some aspects, and he was begging she wasn't like that. It was something really scary…

"Where should I go now?", he asked coldly, interrupting the icy silent atmosphere between them. "Crying won't bring her back, and it will only give you a headache, so… where should I drive you?"

Hazel raised her head, drying up her tears with a tissue. She stared at him for some brief seconds, surprised. She didn't expect him to react like that, so coldly. She wasn't expecting him to react at all. She was so enclosed in her own pain that she couldn't see what she had around. Right there, next to her, there was someone trying to aid her, and she was ignoring him, thinking that she could deal with everything by herself. She couldn't be more wrong. Nobody can deal with everything by him or herself, but she was too stubborn to find it out. At least, until that small moment when he called her back to reality, making use of a really cold tone of voice, almost as cold as the stone.

"Why are you doing all this for me?", she asked him, her voice wounded by her tears. "Have I asked you to do it? No, so… why are you here, dealing with me, instead of being with your friends back at the Saoshyant?"

Ares didn't reply, and went on driving, silently. He didn't know from where he should start, as he didn't entirely know why he was doing all that. There were so many things running in his mind at that moment… "Don't ask that. I don't have a rational answer for you", he admitted, the LEV stopped at the traffic lights.

"Oh, great…", Hazel mumbled softly, burying herself in the seat. As every time she said that, she was feeling both awkward and strange in front of that kind of answers.

"I don't really know… Maybe it is because you remind me of myself so much…", the light haired youth said, searching for his sunglasses over the LEV's console. He was really needing them; he didn't want to stare at her normally, and the midday sun was starting to damage his already hurt sight.

"What?", the light blue haired girl asked astonished, facing him. "What do you mean by that?"

Ares swallowed hard at that interrogation. There was something in her tone of voice that wasn't so friendly. It was something cold and demanding. "Well… we share some personality issues, so…", he started saying, slowly. He tried to come with a good excuse, or even with the truth while delaying his answer, but nothing good came to his mind… "I know how you are feeling, and I want to help you. Is that so bad?", he asked, defensive. That reaction would give him more time to think in something good. And finally, he found his sunglasses. At least something good happened in the last five minutes.

They were a perfect match, at the defensive aspect.

"And how do you know how I feel?", Hazel counterattacked, annoyed. There was something fishy there for her. Or was her imagination, her own defensive state that couldn't let her see things in a different way?

"Hazel, stop being like that! I want to help you! You can't deal with everything by yourself! Look around you, no one can do it just by themselves!", Ares yelled, tired of the situation. What's more, the traffic lights had just turned green, and a queue of angry drivers were torturing them with their horns. "Take everyone at BIS, for example! They lean on each other to gather the strength needed to overcome their problems. You are no different from all of them, Hazel Drajner", he added, maneuvering his LEV with some difficulty, before the noises outside became too violent.

Hazel looked in another direction, blushing. Tears were now welling in her eyes again. After all, he had just stroke the right point. She was just a stubborn, always at the defensive individual, with little chances of success if she decided to lean only in the few strength she had… but it was so painful to recognize it, so hard. She knew it well, but it has a completely different sound when you listen to it from another mouth. Now, she was more scared than before. What it he were to turn away from her when she decided to trust in him? What it she were to be alone, once again, after trusting in him? It would be like being naked in front of the wrong person, at th wrong time…

Ares, on the other side, was starting to feel guilty for his cold, harsh behavior. It hurt him to see her like that, crying without pause, depressed. He didn't want her to feel like that. It was strange… he was feeling that he would have acted differently if she had been another person… "What was that supposed to mean?", he thought, surprised at himself. "Sorry for my behavior back there", he apologized, after turning right. "I didn't want to be that rude"

Hazel didn't reply, but started searching for her tissues in her bag.

"Look, I'm really sorry, I'm really am", Ares went on, getting nervous by her silent attitude. "If I said all that and reacted like that is to help you. I know it's an odd way, but that's what I can do. Sorry for that"

However, Hazel was still silent, looking at the window. She wanted to thank him, in the bottom of her heart, but she could say no words of gratitude. She didn't know if she didn't want to say them or if she just couldn't. She didn't want to lean on him, because she was afraid that she wouldn't have him later... She didn't want to trust in someone else...

"Hey, I don't want you to react like me, that's all", he finally confessed, lowering his head for a small moment, defeated.

"Stop at the end of the block, we have already arrived", Hazel said, at long last. She picked her things as nothing, but before closing the LEV's door she turned back. Now, she was curious about what he had meant with his last statement, but she wouldn't ask, for the time being."Thanks", she said softly.

Before Ares could say anything, she was gone.

*****

Finally, Cynthia woke up from the involuntary nap she took. She had gone under some hard sleep while she was crying, and now she could feel her head breaking into thousands of little pieces. Too bad she was still in some unknown place, far away from her beloved ones. She couldn't believe it, but she was missing her parents, for some reason.

"It must be this imprisonment", she thought, putting her hand in her forehead to check she wasn't having some lines of fever.

Even if she was arguing all the time with her snobbish mother and his absent father, she wanted to be with them right now. And with Hazel, of course. Strangely for her, all the rage she had towards her parents seemed to melt away at that moment, in order to be replaced by a dim feeling of pity and sorrow. If everything had been so different… if her father hadn't gotten a high position in a mineral research company… He would have had more time for her, that's for sure. Her mother wouldn't have become such an air-head, and it would be more pleasant to talk to her. But why didn't she turn into a snob like her mother and most of her companions? She was a little different from her. Even Elian, her classmate and the more rebellious against the normal society among the others, was more of a snob when compared to her.

She couldn't help but smiling at that, thinking in her classmates. "From all of them, Meredy and Elian are the better ones, and they are already spoiled", she thought, thinking in them. But who was her to say that the light blonde girl, and the Latin boy were the ones spoiled? Wouldn't it be the other way round, considering that she was the odd one out, and not them? After all, she was the one that wanted to change everything, that couldn't stand reality as it was…

"I guess… I'm not normal… maybe I'll never will be like them…", she whispered in the infinite silence of her cell. "Maybe I have never been like them", she added, superposing her new words with the echo of the previous ones.

Sadness was filling her heart once again. She couldn't fake it anymore, that cheerful self she always showed in public. With no one around, and with her freedom taken away from her by some unknown military force, she was alone, coming to know herself, something that she had been evading for quite some time. Her depressive self was showing up, while her natural, cheery and social image was fading into nothing.

"All that effort, for nothing… I'm getting depressed again", she said, stomping her fist against the wall. She got hurt, but she didn't care. Her emotional pain was stronger than the physical one. She realized that she was always faking her own self, trying to show a cheerful, clumsy side. She had even convinced herself that her outgoing image was her own self, that she was 'transparent' when compared to the others. Ha, transparent. As if she was of glass… It was just the other way. She was trying to look like that thing she hated, or was it that she thought she hated all that, because she couldn't be like them? Now that she came to think about it, everyone thought of her as an annoying, immature seventeen-year-old girl, almost a shame for someone of her age, someone who couldn't accept a social rule. And she wanted to be the other way round. She knew that everyone would say that because of her parent's economical position. Everyone would say she had nothing under her hair. Now, she was giving that impression with her attitudes.

Cynthia was feeling more and more miserable as the seconds went by. That thing called conscience was striking at her really hard, tormenting her as it had never done before. All that self-study thing wasn't for her, but she couldn't avoid it by now. She thought in her uncle and aunt, Hazel's parents. She really admired them, as they were really different from her own parents. She could forgive them everything, but couldn't do the same with her own parents. Instead, she expected more from them. Jim and Elaine were so cool… while her parents seemed like two pieces of stone. Always thinking in something important: business, fashion, next holidays… The other two were really different, in her opinion. They cared about Hazel, and spent time with her. They knew what she wanted to do, her hopes and dreams. Now, she could entirely understand Hazel's reaction and her attitude towards life when everything went downhill…

Cynthia burst into tears abruptly, thinking in so many things together. Even if her parents were so stubborn, snobbish and emotionless, she wanted to be with them. She wanted to be back at home, arguing with her mother, ignoring her father. She wanted to be back at school, almost getting asleep at class, torturing poor, obedient Meredy with her paper chats during classes. She even missed the gossip chaser of Aretha and the skirt chaser of Mark. She would give everything for a date with him, if that would take her away from where she now was… And she wanted to return to BIS, with Hazel and the others. She didn't care if she wouldn't be able to run an OF anymore, she just wanted to stick with them.

Slowly, she got up from the floor, weakly. She walked to the door more like a zombie than a human being, and she pushed it hard, knowing that it was closed, but with hoping to open it. She pushed it with all her body, and, unexpectedly, she fall to the ground, finding herself laying in the middle of a corridor, instead of being in her cell. Folding her arms across her belly, as if she were protecting it, she stood up slowly, feeling some pain. She looked quickly both backwards and forwards, and noticing that no one was around, she started running towards the corridor, in her way to freedom, if she was able to find it.

Shortly after her escape, the hangar's alarm started ringing, making Ruth, Ethan and Mikenne run quickly to the main room from the different places were they were. The three of them arrived almost at the same time, in haste.

"What the Hell's happening?", Ethan asked, almost kneeling down, keeping his head down in his attempt to recover quicker.

"Someone unauthorized broke into the hangar. It's a matter of seconds until she or him can escape", Mikenne replied seriously, analyzing the information coming from the screen. "Goodness! Is it that you have no good equipment?!? You should have been able to know early that something was wrong!", the red haired woman protested, angrily.

"If you dislike it so much, you can leave. You are more than allowed", Ruth replied coldly, leaning against the wall.

Mikenne neither looked at her nor replied to her. She knew that if she were to say anything, it would only be for trouble. Besides, she wasn't in the mood to argue.

"What's wrong?", Marrek asked, coming into the room. He was talking naturally, and he seemed unworried and relaxed.

The three other members looked at him oddly.

"It was time you came!", Mikenne nagged him, angrily. "Someone's at the hangar, about to escape! I suppose you had already sent someone, hadn't you?"

Marrek blinked twice, acting surprised.

"So the lil' girl has broken out from her cell and is escaping in her OF, uh?", he asked, uninterested. "If so, let her leave"

"What?!?!?", the other three yelled at unison, despite the fact they hadn't planned it.

"What do you mean by that?", Mikenne asked, turning red by her anger. "You are insane!"

"Finally someone who realizes it!", Ethan cried, also angrily.

"Tell me you aren't gonna let her leave so easily, after all the efforts we did to trap at least one of them", Ruth said softly, almost as a whisper. She was astonished, and couldn't believe her ears.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm neither mad nor I'll run after her", Marrek said, lightening a cigarette. "I'm a genius, and I'll let her escape on purpose", he said, before start smoking his already lit cigarette, and playing with it between his fingers.

"Do you want me to believe that you are a genius 'cause the difference between them and madmen is minimal?", Ethan said, raising an eyebrow. He could have been more violent and offensive in his language, he really wanted to do it, but the fact that Mikenne and his sister were around made him softened it up, as he had already promised Ruth he would try to stop insulting their superior in her presence.

"I couldn't agree more with him", Mikenne replied, sighing. "So what's your plan, Mr. Brighthead?", she asked, ironically. He would better have a good excuse, if he wanted to avoid some warning from the even higher ranks…

"I won't tell you right now", Marrek replied mysteriously, grinning. "I'm sure you'll find it out sooner or later, before I tell you", he said, dropping his cigarette to the ground and turning back to leave the room. Indeed, he left it, without saying anything else.

"Bastard", Ethan mumbled, pressing hard the dropped cigarette with his shoe.

"The worst is that he knows he shouldn't smoke, and less inside the base", Ruth lamented, staring at her brother's feet.

"Without any intention of offending you, Ruth", Mikenne started saying, facing the blonde girl, "Do you still have a crush on that thing?"

Ruth's fists tightened, as she felt some anger and rage flowing over herself. They never got along well each other, but things got worse when Marrek made some moves around Mikenne, who got into their little group much later than what she did. To make matters worse, the red haired, silent stranger turned out to be a more efficient runner than what she was, even after joining later. Mikkene's silent, cold behavior and the lack of interest she had in Marrek while he was head over heels for her were some extra touches for Ruth's anger. How could she befriend someone like her, who had everything for granted and despised it?

"That's not your business", Ruth replied coldly, out of herself. "No one told you to get into my life"

"I agree on that. I just wanted to know", the other youth replied, sighing. "Well, see you all later. I'll try to relax a bit", she added, turning back and leaving the room.

"That bitch…", Ruth mumbled, nervously. She would have wanted to run after her and start a fight, but Ethan, already knowing her intentions, grabbed her tightly from the arm.

"I think you and I still have an agreement…", he said, slowly.

"Leave me at ease!", the blonde haired young woman yelled, getting rid of her brother's hand. Still angry, she left the room, slamming the door.

*****

The sound of the engine stopping made Hazel wake up, realizing just then that she fall asleep. It was an odd thing, considering that the way from her cousin's house to the Saoshyant wasn't that long by LEV. Maybe the fact that she had been crying continuously made her fall asleep, once more.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat properly, rubbing them. The artificial lights from the hangar blinded her a little, until she got used to them.

At her side, Ares was leaving his sunglasses in the small box above the controls. He looked at her while opening the LEVs door. "Did you have a good sleep?", he asked distantly, as if he didn't care.

Hazel caught that attitude as disgust towards her, and looked in the other direction, so he wouldn't notice that she was blushing. "I could say that yes", she replied, closing her door. She walked slowly to where he was, but he started walking before, as if he had been eager to leave her sight.

Hazel, depressed, didn't know what to do. She stood there, like petrified, watching how Ares walked away, the lights refracting in his light hair. He didn't turn down, and went on walking, hurting her with each step. She couldn't tell why it hurt her, being that she was the one who wanted to be alone. She was fearful that she had hurt him much with her cold 'leave me alone' attitude. It was a real pity that she found it out late.

"I'm sorry!", she exclaimed, almost like a cry.

That cry, with a high content of desperation, made Ares stopped walking. Slowly, he turned back and walked to her, silently.

Hazel was shacking, tears in the verge of her eyes once again. Her whole self was shacking almost violently, showing how nervous she was. She lowered her head as Ares walked to her, hoping that her tears would disappear before he reached her.

He grabbed her from her shoulders, thinking in how odd life was, that he now had the opportunity to help someone, while he had been the one who needed help for a long time. The girl raised her head, with her tears still in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry if I have offended you", she started saying, nervously. "I know you tried to help me, and I was, no, I'm a stubborn person who wants to get everything done by herself, and that I didn't allow you to say anything nor to help me, but I'm desperate. I'm not used to receive any kind of help, and your help was like an offense, thinking that you wanted to do it to make me shut up or something like that. I couldn't understand how you would waste your time with me, or if you could understand how I feel. I keep thinking that you say that because you want me to think that I'm not alone, and not because you felt it, and…", she said, words rushing to come out of her lips.

"Calm down, calm down", he interrupted her nervous, quick speech with his calm voice. That pile of nerves he had in front of him touched him deeply, but he still repressed his desire of hugging her to calm her down. Instead, he grabbed her from her chin and made her looked at him. "Listen to me well", he started saying, talking more as a teacher nagging a "problematic child". "I'm not offended. I thought you wanted to be alone and that there was nothing left for me to say, so that's why I wanted to leave the hangar quickly. I don't hate you. I just want to help you, because you won't tolerate all that pain alone anymore. You will start suffering physical consequences from it, and you'll never be the same, with that quote of pain within yourself"

Hazel nodded silently, moving the head slowly as if she were a little child. His words were a like a small ray of light in her darkness. Could it be that there was someone there, ready to help her and look after her? Someone that she thought that would never exist, and that she was eager to find since some time ago… Could it be?

"Ares?", she asked him, shyly. But before he could reply she went on. "May I hug you?", she asked, her voice breaking down as she talked, and her tears shinning brighter in her eyes.

Ares swallowed hard, still disbelieving what he had just heard. That small question, asked with extreme shyness and like a whistle, sounded like a last wish. On the other hand, it seemed like she read his mind. How could he refuse, if she looked like a "soaked chicken", defeated and innocent, capable of touching the heart of the most aggressive tyrant?

"S…sure", he said shyly, blushing. Now he was the one shacking, uncertain of what would happen.

"Thank you", she whispered softly, and hugged him abruptly. She grabbed him tightly, as if he were a piece of wood in the sea after her boat sank. She buried her head in his shoulder, as a sea of tears started running from her cheeks, and ending in Ares' jacket, who didn't know how to react and hugged her tighter, hoping she would feel better soon…

*****

Mikenne knocked Marrek's door, and after hearing a faint 'come in', she got into it, not so pleased of doing so.

"Wow. I'm impressed", Marrek said ironically, looking at her. "I thought you would came with much comfortable clothes, though"

"Don't even dream about it. I haven't come to end up in your bed", Mikenne protested, throwing him the first thing she found laying in a table: some forgotten "memo" like papers. "Just what you are thinking about, Superior Pith?", she asked, leaning against a wall and waiting for his answer.

"Ah, I should have expected you to came to know about my plans", he said, acting offended. "Isn't it obvious?"

"I don't know what you have in mind, to begin with. You surprise me every day a little more", Mikenne replied, in a tone of voice that wouldn't make anyone proud. "I think that you put some kind of tracer in that OF and left the girl's cell open, so she would escape and then you would come to know where is the infamous BIS, but I don't know if that's your plan. It seems pretty simple for your twisted mind"

"Well, that's part of it", Marrek said, clapping his hands. "At least someone who understands me!"

"How quaint. Ethan used the same words, but he's more believable and reliable than you", the red haired girl said indifferently, looking at her nails. "And I haven't polished my nails yet! See you later", she said, turning back.

"Seems like you are too close to that pipsqueak", the green haired man shot, bitterly. However, Mikenne didn't reply, and left his room, slamming the door.

*****

"Those two arrived like half an hour ago and they haven't make their appearance yet. What's happenin' with those two?", Semyl asked herself on her way to the hangar. She was rather worried about Cynthia, but she wanted to know where was Ares, also. Not that she had much hopes to end up with him, but trying wouldn't hurt. However, she felt her "Love Heaven" fall over her when she reached the hangar, and saw Hazel and Ares hugging each other, with no intentions to let go from both of them.

"Look at that! She plays the worried one and takes advantage of the situation! What a whor…", the red haired started ranting lowly, furious, but a hand in her shoulder made her stop, afraid.

"Wow, this is something to see!", Razma, the one behind the red haired girl, said, grinning broadly. "I wouldn't like to be in your shoes, Semy", he added, ironically.

"You!", Semyl shouted, kicking his foot. Just then, the radar alarm started ringing, calling their attention.

Hazel and Ares broke their hug, frightened. The light blue-haired girl took some steps backwards, as if she were afraid and embarrassed. Ares, instead, looked in the corridor's direction, finding a blushing Semyl and a grinning Razma.

"Hi there, folks! Sorry for interrupting you!", Razma exclaimed, waving at them.

"What are you doing there, looking at us as if we were aliens?", Ares asked, annoyed.

"It's just… that… the alarm! Yes, the alarm! We have found some signal in the radar!", Semyl said, coming with the greatest excuse in a long time.

"Where?!?", Hazel asked abruptly, desperately. However, she didn't wait for the answer, and run to the main room, eager to see the radar with her very own eyes.

"Great thingy you got, pal", Razma joked, patting Ares on the shoulder, who just let go a deep sigh. Semyl, on the other hand, walked out from the hangar quickly, furiously.

Meanwhile, Hazel arrived to the main room, almost breathless. "Where's Cynthia?", she asked, leaning against the wall with her head down. Her heat was bumping really quickly.

"We've caught a Metatron signal, and we have just identified the frame as Carpe, and she's on her way here", Mebius told her, while pouring some water in a glass. "Now, take this. You shouldn't overwork your body like that", the blonde woman told her, giving the light haired girl the glass of water and driving her to a sofa.

"I know. I couldn't control myself", she explained, while she drank some of the water. "Thanks"

"Don't mention it", Mebius smiled with her eyes closed. "Now, take a little rest before Cynthia arrives. You have worried us, as well as your cousin"

Just then, Hazel noticed she wasn't that alone. Just in front of her, all the BIS gang was gathered, staring at her, and she understood that Ares was right. Everyone there counted with each other, leaning in each one of them to overcome their problems, whatever they were. From the always cheerful Semyl to the silent, stone-like Twede, everyone had some kind of trouble, and everyone counted with at least one person to trust. She would be no exception. She would have to learn to trust in somebody else, and not to close herself in her own pain. Maybe that way, she would become the "Hazel" she had been once, not so long ago…

She drank a some more water, as sealing her thoughts that way. "Thanks", she whispered again, with a thin, real smile.

*****

Finally, the defeated greenish frame came into the Saoshyant's hangar, after a two days ordeal. Finally, Cynthia could feel something close to peace and relief, but there was something that was like a small little cloud over her joy. But she was determined to shut up, until she could find a good way to express it.

Tiredly, she managed to open the frame's cockpit. Even slower, she stood up and left that giant, the one that trapped her and the one that she thought it could be her hope. Downstairs, Hazel was waiting anxiously for her, waiting her to come down to embrace her in a never-ending hug.

"I'm so sorry!", the student cried over her cousin's shoulder as Hazel hugged her. "You were all the time right! I shouldn't have never got into that thing! I'm nothing but a trouble maker!"

"I don't care about that now, we'll discuss it later!", Hazel told her, crying. "What matters is that you are safe and sound, just that!"

"Aren't you angry with me?", Cynthia asked her, her voice weak by the emotion.

"Not now. I'm really relieved that you are here again! You really worried me a lot! I didn't know what to do, and I got into a great burden, torturing everyone. You can ask them!", Hazel said, smiling happily.

"We were all really worried", Myona said, really touched.

"Yes, even Twede was worried", Robin added, joking.

The mentioned man moaned, and look in another direction, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Welcome back", Mebius added, holding Lia in her arms.

"Thanks", Cynthia thanked, drying up the tears in her eyes while she still embraced Hazel with one arm.

"I guess I should take you home. You may want to take a great shower", Hazel offered her, smiling between her tears. "We'll talk about this later. Maybe tomorrow, or whenever you want"

"Could I take a bite here? I'm starving…", the brown haired girl asked shyly, turning down Hazel's offer.

Her cousin couldn't help but laughing. "Sure. I completely forgot about that"

*****

Ares sat down in a sofa in the main room, after starting his kind of favorite music file: 'Promise of Reunion'.

He really needed it, to listen to that ballad, resting with his eyes closed, with a dim feeling of having accomplished a difficult duty. After all, now everything was back to normal, and there wouldn't be more cries for some time, making the atmosphere softer. That hug with Hazel was more than what he could have asked for, in his search to cheer up the depressed youth. However, it also had some consequences in him, as he was rather thoughtful now.

The music resounded in the empty room. Everyone else was scattered along the Saoshyant, while he was the only one there. Until he heard a door opening.

He turned back, and he found Hazel, coming out from her room. She stood still one second, listening to the instrumental piece, until she headed for the main room, changing her original destination. "Hi", she greeted him, shyly. "Can I sit down, until Cynthia comes?"

"You don't have to ask that", Ares said, finding himself saying words that he hadn't thought before.

"Thanks", she whispered, sitting next to him. She looked at the walls for a brief moment, as thinking in something else. "Why do you play this song so often?", she asked, shyly. "Does it have a special meaning for you?"

"Well, it's something special to me. It relaxes me…", he started saying, vaguely. He couldn't explain well what he felt for that song, as he had mixed feelings for it. Both painful and happy memories haunted him every time he listened to that song, but he kept on playing it. It was odd…

"It's gorgeous… I find it rare", Hazel said, delighted with the song. For her, it was like a small help, something that cheered her up. If only she knew her real origin… she wouldn't like it that much.

"Yeah, it's really strange. I wonder how they came with it…", Ares whispered, leaning against the sofa with his arms folded behind his head. Zephyrs had been a damned, uncaring monster. He couldn't understand how he allowed to play that song, or any music at all. Maybe to keep them quiet, while waiting for their turn and their sure death…

"Ares, I have to thank you everything you did for me these last two days", Hazel said, gathering courage from somewhere within herself. "I'm still a stubborn idiot, but you made me realize that I'm no different from anyone else… I'm weak, and I need to remember the basics… you reminded me of some things I have forgotten", the grey eyed girl said, smiling lightly. "I don't know what I would have done without someone like you today, insisting me at every time… I guess I now believe you when you say that you know how I feel…"

The light haired boy felt like a knot in his throat. She was using some of the same words he used when he bid farewell to Cage and Myona… He was feeling a bit scared, thinking in how similar she was to him… If only he had found someone like her before… "It's alright…", he managed to say, awkwardly. "I had the strange premonition that you would do something stupid if I weren't to insist…"

"Well, I think that eventually I would have done it… I don't know if I won't do it, yet", she said, seriously.

Ares sat properly on the sofa, looking weirdly at her. "Don't tell me that you consider suicide as an option?", he asked her, puzzled.

"Oh, why not? It's nothing but another choice", she said, talking naturally, not surprised by Ares' reaction. "You just have to choose the right moment and method. I wouldn't throw myself under a train, through. It's too tragic to me…", she added, leaning against the sofa.

Ares raised an eyebrow, astonished. Where was all that hope that she seemed to have seconds ago?!?

"Hey, I was joking!", Hazel told him, bursting into laughter. Ares just rolled his eyes, feeling relieved. "I'm not going to kill myself. I don't believe that suicide is an option, oposed to what I said before. I had thought of doing that, but I don't have the necessary guts, you know…", she explained, smiling happily. "Rest easy, I'll go on being a burden for some time"

"You really scared me", Ares admitted, sighing.

Hazel's eyes widened a little with that statement. Could it be that he cared about her?

"Hazel, I'm ready!!", Cynthia yelled from somewhere else, a good sign that she was returning to her normal cheerful state. Then, she came into the room, putting on her school's blazer. However, finding Hazel and Ares together wasn't a good surprise for her, and couldn't repress a strange look in her face.

"I'm going", Hazel said, standing up. "Is everything alright, Cynt?", she asked, catching that glance.

"Aye, I'm fine. Just a bit tired and shocked", she replied, evading Ares.

"I'll go for my jacket. I'll be here in a small sec", Hazel said, rushing to her room, leaving Cynthia and Ares alone in the main room. It couldn't be worst for Cynthia, who was looking nervously at anything but Ares.

"Are you alright?", Ares asked her, noticing that something was wrong.

Cynthia took a little while to answer. "Look, Ares", she said, thinking well in what she was about to say. "I'm happy that Hazel has found a friend in you, but there's something I don't like, Mr. Vale Shatner", she said, letting go a poisonous spear with her words.

Ares couldn't be more surprised than that, and for the worse. How on Earth did she find out that? But even worse, did she know everything, or anything at all?

"I don't know what you really did when you were the head of that Resistance group, but if you changed your name, it wasn't something good. If you really care about Hazel, you should better think it well… I can't forgive anything because I'm no one to do it, only God can forgive... but think well about messing with Hazel…", Cynthia went on, saddened. "She has already suffered back on those days..."

"Who told you that?", Ares asked, trying to remain calm, but he was feeling both frightened and furious at the same time.

However, he got no answer, as Hazel got into the main room again, with her jean jacket on.

"Well, I'm ready", she said, looking at both of them with a smile on her face. "What's wrong?", she asked then, noticing a strange atmosphere among them.

"Nothing. Let's go", Cynthia said, leaving the main room in direction to the hangar.

Hazel looked at her, noticing that she hadn't greeted Ares goodbye.

"Forgive her, she's too tired and scared", she apologized for Cynthia, shrugging. "I'll be back soon. See you later!", she said, waving at him before disappearing.

Ares, feeling a huge burden above his shoulders, went to the PC and played the song for another time, dropping himself in the sofa while he felt miserable, without any kind of answer…

*******


	14. Nightmare

Chapter 14: "Nightmare"

"Is she better?", Cynthia asked her mother after changing her school uniform for some more comfortable clothes.

Jane, her mother, nodded silently. "It took her a long time to fall asleep", she said, tiredly. "I still think it would be better to give her some pills, so she will be more relaxed"

"Mom, that won't be the solution", Cynthia replied, annoyed. It looked like her cousin was nothing more than trouble for her mother, and that she would do anything to keep the blue haired Hazel quiet and silent. "What's more, the doctor said that we shouldn't give her anything of those things"

"But I still think it would be better for her", Jane insisted, slightly annoyed. "Every time she wakes up, the same thing happens: she starts crying, she doesn't sleep well… she has some nasty nightmares, judging from her attitudes after she wakes up", the middle aged woman started enumerating, helping herself some coffee. "Coffee, darling?", she offered her daughter, politely.

"No, thanks", Cynthia declined, sitting down, with one leg folded and sitting over it. She grabbed a spoon that was laying in the table, and starting playing with it, thoughtfully.

"Hey, you are too worried about her…", her mother said, noticing Cynthia's behavior. "You shouldn't take it so much at heart. There's nothing you can do to help her… She doesn't want any kind of help, so you should just give up and go on with your life. When she gets better, we'll try to find some other people…"

"But I want to help her!", Cynthia protested, dropping the spoon over the table. "She's my cousin, and even if she's not the closest relative I have, she's part of my family, and I really like her! I always did! I can't let her alone now…", the brown haired student lowered her head, saddened. "It's so strange… I feel like a stranger when I'm with her now… she was always a bit harsh, but now I feel like an alien when I get into her room…"

"Yeah, it's scary", her mother agreed, thoughtfully. "I know I never had the nicest relationship all over the Universe with her, but it's too… painful. But what really shocks me are her eyes. They look fixed at you, almost scanning you from head to toe, always at the defensive. I can't look at her much when she's like that."

"Aye", Cynthia sighed, softly.

The two women kept silent, Jane drinking her coffee, Cynthia with her head under her folded arms. The room would have been completely silent if it weren't for the TV, which was now displaying a sudden "news flash".

"Now what?!?", Cynthia asked angrily when she saw the TV news flash screen, and the blonde TV anchor appeared on the screen. Since a few weeks ago, there were tons of flashes every now and then, covering the tense situation in Hellespontos Sphere. An accident involving a spaceship with civilians aboard, encounters between the anti-terrestrial league BIS and Task Force Acemos, from the Earth forces… Cynthia was even taken as a hostage at the shopping mall… only that she didn't make it to appear on TV. After that, BIS claimed that they had evidence against the Earthling scientist and militar Zephyrs, blaming him on the so called Bonaparte III accident. No word had been heard from him since that, but that didn't mean that everything would be back to normal. The threat to increase taxes was still alive. The young student had enough reasons to feel fearful every time a news flash popped up in the screen.

"I just hope that Earth won't raise our taxes", Jane whispered, annoyed. "It's the only thing that prevents us from saying that Hell has fallen over us"

"Good evening", the blonde woman greeted the audience, monotonously, modulating greatly every word. "We are now in communication with Vale Shatner, leader of an anti-Earth group, who's about to proclaim a message to the Martians. As always, we are bringing you the latest news"

"Another anti-Earth group!?!?", Cynthia exclaimed, angered. "Fuck them all!"

"Cynthia!", her mother cried, annoyed. "Keep your mouth shut!"

The image switched from the tidy anchor to a light haired youth, not much older than Hazel. His expression was that of both anger and rage.

"Oh, my! He must be around seventeen or so, like Hazel", Jane commented, puzzled. "What's happening with today's youth!?!?"

"_Fellow Martians!_", the boy yelled to the crowd, showing authority, despite everyone around him were much older than him. "_Now is the time to unite! Earthlings like Zephyrs have been ignoring our blood, sweat, and tears... and they find the nerve to snatch away our rights and violate us!_"

"He may be right about Zephyrs, but I don't believe that killing them all is the solution", Cynthia objected, guessing what would come next.

"What's the matter with Zephyrs? What's going on?", Hazel's voice asked, coldly.

Both mother and daughter turned back, quickly and frightened. She was just next to the door's frame, her eyes looking fixed at them, coldly and sharply, frowning. She was still wearing her pajamas, consisting in an old pair of white shorts and a long, blue t-shirt. She looked more like a ghost than a human being, as she was really thin and pale at that time, and her eyes were red of crying so much and continuously.

"Hazel! What are you doing here?!?", Jane cried, nervously. "You should be at bed right now! C'mon, let's go!", she said, pushing her forwards to her room. She was also trying to prevent her from watching the television, just in case.

"Leave me! I want to listen to him!", the light haired girl protested, trying to evade her aunt's arms.

"You will just hear my voice and my shouts if you keep on being a nuisance!", Aunt Jane yelled, pushing Hazel harder along the corridor.

"Mom!", Cynthia cried, feeling embarrassed for her mother's behavior and pity for her harsh cousin. And the worst part is that she couldn't do anything for any of them…

Meanwhile, the TV went on talking…

"_We cannot let this go any further! Pick up your guns! Fight with us! Freedom to Mars!!_", the youth known as Vale Shatner proclaimed, receiving a sudden ovation, and the aid of tons of civilians who were sick of Earth's occupation. Quickly, Cynthia grabbed the remote control and turn the TV off, cursing herself for not having done that in first place.

Suddenly, everything started to turn blurred…

"Ah!", Cynthia exclaimed, sitting quickly in her bed, nervously. She was breathing heavily, but she calmed down quickly, as she realized that what she thought as real was nothing more than a nightmare… a "deja vu"-like one.

She touched her hair, and confirmed that it was longer than at that time, the time in her bad dream. She felt a bit relieved, but she was still uneasy, and she knew it would take a long time before she could recover from that. She wasn't feeling like that because of her kidnapping, but for Hazel. She didn't want her to return to those bad days, when hope was something unavailable for them, specially for Hazel, who just seemed to feel that life was out of her reach.

The idea –or the fact, better said- that Ares was Vale, an obscure figure who was thought to be dead, was something that she couldn't totally understand. She didn't want to believe it, but there was evidence against him. If he hadn't been that person, he wouldn't have reacted that bad when he heard the Dioscuri saying "Freedom to Mars". The figure Cynthia had in her head and that popped up in her dreams was Ares, without any space to doubts. Now, all that she had left was to start being a nuisance and fed up Ares, so he would leave Hazel alone. The bad thing was that they were starting to get on well with each other… But she had to do it, in order to protect Hazel from all those bad memories from not so long ago… Now, it was her time to help her.

Cynthia laid back on the bed, thinking that she shouldn't play a heroine role, when another image came back to her mind. A young girl, as old as Hazel at that time, with violet hair, some tied up in two plaits –one at each side of her face-, talking to the audience of HBC, one of Hellesponte's biggest TV stations and part of one of the most important media holdings in Mars, popped up in her mind. Even if her speech wasn't well stored in her memory –the girl was talking about something related to the accident of the Bonaparte III and Zephyrs, like he was the one who caused the so called "accident"-, the image was clear in her memories. And now it turned into something painful and without comprehension for her. Coming to know that Myona was the girl from her memories, Cynthia buried her head even more in her pillow, wishing that it would just swallow her.

"I wonder why I don't follow Hazel's pieces of advice", the young student said to herself, after cursing her stupidity and her luck. "What's more, why I don't look well after her, as she does with me?", she went on asking to no one in particular, as lots of thoughts took off in her mind, struggling to get her attention and depress her more.

* * *

"Oh, my!", Mebius exclaimed as she came into the main room, carrying Lia in her arms. "What's with those sleepy faces?", she asked to the small group formed by Razma, Semyl, Myona and Cage, who were sitting in some seats. The second couple weren't as sleepy as the first one, but they had signs of some bad dream.

"I think it was too warm to even think in sleeping", Semyl replied, yawning. "My room fan's broken"

"Her room looks like Hell itself", Myona approved, signing. She had been sleeping with Semyl, so she also knew what it was like to sleep in that place.

"In what concerns me, I don't know", Cage admitted, shrugging.

"And what about you?", Mebius asked Razma, funnily. He was the only one without any good reason or excuse.

"Me?", Razma repeated, really sleepily. "I guess I was still celebrating…"

"Celebrating what?", Myona asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Celebrating Cynthia's liberation, I guess…", Razma said, thoughtfully.

"But she returned almost a week ago!", Mebius laughed hard, impressed by the boy's good excuses.

"Alright! I just stayed awake doing nothing! Happy now?", he asked, annoyed. It looked like he wasn't owner of his own destiny now, with this sort of annoying interrogatory.

"I just wanted to know what happened, just that", Mebius said, finally leaving Lia at the ground, who run quickly to Warren's legs, who was just coming from the hangar.

"Seems she really likes him", Myona commented, staring at the little girl and a somewhat blushing Warren, who couldn't repress his emotions when the little girl was around, for some reason.

"Yes, it seems so…", the blonde woman said thoughtfully, also looking at both of them, but with her mind somewhere else, far from there.

"Anything wrong?", Cage asked, noticing that something wasn't really well with Mebius.

Mebius shook her head quickly, like washing away some old and bad memories. "Yes! Why do you ask?", she asked surprised, as if nothing had ever happened.

"It's just that you looked thoughtfully, as if you were worried…", the blue haired boy started explaining, looking for the right words to not hurt her. "Can we help in anything?"

Mebius laughed briefly. "No, Cage. There's nothing you can do", she replied, cheerfully. "Anyway, thanks for your help. I'll consider it", she went on, smiling.

"Hello", Warren greeted the others, harshly. His image of tough man was something that didn't match on well with the little, never quiet girl in his arms, but it was something worth seeing. "Hi Mebius", he greeted her, distantly.

"Hi", she just replied, naturally.

"Robin says that we can go to the Labs and pick our frames", the brown haired man told her, leaving little Lia in the ground. "Twede's already there, and Robin's waiting for us at the hangar"

"And what am I going to do with Lia?", she asked him, slightly annoyed. It was something too notorious that Mebius spoke of Lia as if she were something that she just owned, and that she was overprotective towards her. Apparently, there wasn't a way to make her realize that, even if she had been told that hundreds of times, she went on with her behavior, not noticing it.

"We can take her to a shopping mall!", Semyl proposed, cheerfully. "We'll take good care of her, I promise!"

"Yes, sis, let little Lia go out with her aunts and uncles", Razma added, winking an eye.

Mebius laughed cheerfully, happy that the youths came by with a good suggestion. Warren, instead, scratched his head thoughtfully. "Not that I don't like the idea", he started saying, slowly. "But who will stay at the Saoshyant? We have to leave someone at charge…"

"Don't worry, Pops. I'll stay", Yukito offered himself, coming into the room and sitting in one of the chairs. "Even if they take Hazel and Ares with them, I would be out of place. It would look like a multiple date", he chuckled, looking at Semyl and Razma.

"YOU!!", both red-hairs yelled at the unison, glaring at him. Realizing that they did the same thing at the same moment, each of them looked in the opposite direction, blushing.

Yukito laughed hard this time. "I've never said that you two were a couple. You just assumed it", he said, leaning back in the chair, still chuckling.

"So we can trust that you won't get away and leave the Saoshyant without anyone inside?", Warren asked him again, suspiciously.

"Hey, am I so unreliable?", the blue haired man asked him, raising an eyebrow and acting offended.

"Well… not yet", Warren joked, curling his lips slightly, into what was his smile.

"Anyway, thanks Yukito!", Mebius thanked him, while she picked her things. "See you later, guys!", she greeted them, after kissing her foster daughter in the cheek.

"Bye", Warren said, greeting briefly as always, before disappearing with Mebius in their way to the hangar.

"Alright, let's go!", Semyl exclaimed, cheerfully.

"Aren't you telling Ares and Hazel? Maybe they also want to take some fresh air", Yukito proposed, cleaning the lens of his blue glasses. It was something odd to look at him without those blue things in his face.

"He's right! I'm gonna tell them!", Razma yelled, getting up all of a sudden and rushing to Ares' room.

"Hey, don't! Wait!! Come're, ya' idiot!!!", Semyl yelled at the bright red haired youth, but it was futile. When she saw him again, he was already talking to Ares, and Hazel popped up from her room, wandering what was wrong with those noises.

"Damn it! The red hair idiot's tellin' 'em", the girl protested, defeated.

"What? You didn't want them to go with you?", Yukito asked, putting his glasses on.

"It's not that…", Myona said, replying in Semyl's place. "It's just that… that…"

She wanted to come by with a good excuse, but she couldn't find anything good to say. She couldn't deny them, or at least to her brother, to go, but she always felt a bit uncomfortable with him around when she was with Cage in some sort of date. Semyl, on the other hand, didn't want them to come together. She would have preferred Ares to go alone, and not to have them both in their trip, or that both of them decided to stay. Bad luck.

"They are coming! Let's go!", Razma said triumphal, with Ares and Hazel behind him. "Hey, what're ya' waiting for! Let's get movin', let's get movin'!", he cheered the others up, before vanishing in his way to the hangar.

* * *

"What do you think of it now, that it's almost brand new?", Robin asked Mebius, who was staring at her thin frame silently.

The blonde haired woman turned back, shacking her head. "Ahh, Robin", she greeted her, sort of confused. "You caught me by surprise", she admitted, smiling lightly. Then, she looked at her frame again, analyzing it again. "I don't know… it seems fine… stylish, as always", she said, with the first words that came through her mind.

"If you think that now it's a stylish frame, just wait to see the new 'Stardust' attack", Robin said, leaning forwards in the railing that separated the floor from the first basement, where the frames were, visible from above. "It's something quite nifty, with Metatron reactions that resemble a group of stars moving in the same direction, like a wave of stars. It was tough to make, but well, that's why NUT supports us, to develop new and better things. As I said before, it was much of a challenge, as well as Durandal II's new attack, 'Infinite'". The white haired woman was far too enthusiastic about all this new developments and achievements. After all, that's why she was hired by NUT. She had to admit that she loved the job, but she still couldn't understand entirely her life choice. She never regretted it, and she thought that she never will. "It's something like this: Durandal, after getting a certain amount of Metatron energy from the enemies, will launch a super-strong-powerful-whatever-adjective-you-want to-include-here attack. It can affect many frames in a wide range area, so…", she went on, enraptured, until she noticed that Mebius wasn't paying any attention at her, but she was wandering somewhere else in her mind. "Ahem", Robin 'coughed', fakingly. "Is it just me, or you weren't paying attention to what I was saying?", she asked, concerned.

Mebius shook her head once, then looked at Robin as if she was surprised. "Why do you say that?", she asked, trying to sound normal. "You were talking about the new attacks and those things…"

"'Those things'?", Robin asked her, raising an eyebrow, slightly offended. "It sure took me too much time, sweat and tears to make them, and then you call them 'those things'", she said, sighing at the end. "I guess that's what we just get after doing our work so hard… there's little people who really appreciates it"

"Robin, I didn't intend to offend you…", Mebius started explaining, fearful of having hurt Robin's feelings. She never saw her like that, low-headed and defeated before what the others thought of her job, as she was now. What had started as a joke to cheer up the blonde woman, had turned into a painful shade of Robin's reality.

"It's alright… it was me the one who brought that topic up, not you…", Robin said, cleaning her glasses with her tissue. She was trying to smile and look strong as ever, but there was something that showed her saddened self, in spite of her efforts to look well. "It's alright, Mebius. You shouldn't worry about it. After all, this happens in the most common jobs, also…", she added, putting her glasses on, while washing away the bad thoughts that came with the previous topic. She wouldn't be the only one that had wasted her entire life in the wrong thing… but had she wasted it? She really enjoyed what she was doing, so that wouldn't be a waste of time and efforts for her. Still… it was sad and painful to think that maybe nobody cared about, actually. Maybe nobody would take their post if BIS were to disappear… and so, all her efforts would have been in vain.

"Are you sure you are alright?", Mebius asked her, concerned.

"Ah, yes! Of course I'm!", Robin said, shacking her head as if she had just awaken. "But you don't seem too good, for some reason", she told the frame runner, looking at her concerned, trying to guess what was going on in the younger woman's head.

"Why do you say that?", Mebius asked, trying to play dumb.

"Is it because Lia isn't with you?", her companion asked her, looking suspiciously at her.

"Is it too obvious?", Mebius asked again, lowering her head to hide her blushing cheeks.

"Now it is", Robin joked, pushing her forwards gently. "You should rest easy! She's with the younger ones! Even if Semyl and Razma aren't the best example of responsibility, you have Myona and Cage, who do better than the previous ones in that topic. And Ares and Hazel are with them, also, so you shouldn't worry that much"

"It's not that I don't trust in them", Mebius complained, facing Robin with determination. "It's just that… I don't know what I feel…"

"You are being too possessive towards her", Robin told her, seriously. "It looks like you don't want her to be with anyone else but you. It even looks like you are jealous when she's with Warren"

That shocked Mebius. She knew she had a little problem about her being too attached to Lia, but she hadn't thought it was too severe. But now that Robin mentioned it… she had to admit that she wanted Lia to be just with her, especially if the other person was Warren. "I… do?", Mebius asked almost voiceless, tears starting to show up in her blue eyes. It was as if she was scared of herself, of her over-protective nature.

"Calm down, Mebius", Robin said, grabbing her from her shoulders gently. It was obvious that her blonde companion was starting to feel surpassed by her feelings. "It's not that tragic… you are still in time to revert it"

"I can't help it… I see my little Tia, the baby I couldn't have, in her, so that's why I want her just for me… That's why I always want to be with her, to protect her… I've already lost a child, and I don't want to loose another!", Mebius cried, bursting into tears. She started going under slowly, very slowly, until she ended up on the floor, knelt down, crying.

"Meb… don't worry, we'll help you to overcome this…", Robin said, knelling down on the ground also, hugging the fallen woman to make her feel comforted…

* * *

"Hey, let's go ice skating!", Razma proposed to the group as soon as he saw the ice-skating rink inside the shopping mall. They had already went through the first two floors, messing around in some shops and becoming a nuisance in some others. Considering that the cinema entrance fee was far too expensive –just because the cinema complex was inside a shopping mall wasn't a good excuse to take the fee up to the clouds, even if the shopping mall's complex had a red carpet covering the entire floor and mushy seats-, any thing they found could be a good way to have fun. And after messing around the karaoke stand –with Semyl and Myona singing in front of the curious ones gathered in front of them-, there was nothing better to do than the first thing that came in sight. And the skating rink was the first thing he saw.

"Thanks, I'll pass", Ares turned down, naturally. "Ice sports aren't my stuff"

"You all can go, I'll stay", Hazel said, smiling. "So you can leave all your bags and valuable things with me"

"And why are you staying?", Semyl asked, annoyed. She was starting to hate the blue haired youth, something that hadn't occurred to her since some time. For her, Hazel was just desperate about Ares, right after Cynthia came back. "Why that sudden attraction?", she thought, and she couldn't understand the reason.

"It's been a LONG while since I last skated… I'm sure I'll end up knocking everybody else on the ice…", the blue haired girl giggled, puzzling more than one of the present ones there.

"And everyone would end up with their ass frozen", Semyl said maliciously.

"Exactly", Hazel agreed, a bit shocked by Semyl's tone of voice.

"Anyway! Let's go to the ice, the rest!", Razma yelled, grabbing Lia and putting her over his shoulders, thing that the little girl enjoyed much, leaving the others behind.

"He doesn't seem that immature like that, does he, Semyl?", Myona asked her friend, winking an eye at her. "He even looks quite fatherly, uh?"

"You…!", Semyl glared at her friend, slightly annoyed. "You can't think that he can be a father some time in the future, can you?!? I wouldn't like to be in his child shoes…"

"What?!?", the mentioned guy turned back, raising an eyebrow. "Then, I already feel pity for your children, if you are having any! Always speaking in that slang thing, even if your last line was good enough… only that it's basic English"

"I hate ya'!!!", Semyl yelled at him, running to his direction. Razma, laughing hard, started running with Lia still in his shoulders, who was having the fun of a lifetime. Giggling, Cage and Myona joined them, going into the small room where they would take off their shoes and put the ice skating boots.

"You shouldn't have stayed if you wanted to skate", Ares told Hazel, with his eyes fixed at the ice rink, with a lost expression.

"I know. You aren't the reason why I'm staying", Hazel replied, leaning against the small wall that separated the shopping mall from the rink. "I don't want to end up in hospital with a broken leg, that's why. The last and only time I went skating I barely knew how to do it, so you can imagine the results if I try to do it now", she explained, looking at the rink. Cage and Myona were already there, and Razma was going into it, grabbing Lia tightly with his right hand. Hazel smiled at that scene, and waved at the group, who waved back, a bit confused about Hazel's social behavior lately.

"I guess I can imagine that", Ares nodded, still thoughtfully.

Both of them stayed silent for a while, looking at the others –now Semyl had joined them- at the ice rink, making their best to not fall down. The lack of snowy winters in Mars made it difficult to practice, and so, ice-skating was like a challenging experience for everyone…

Hazel grabbed a bottle of water from her bag and opened it. She began sipping it lightly, looking at the rink and a bit lost in her thoughts.

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to drink some coffee here at the cafeteria next to the rink, but it seems that you were already thirsty", Ares said, sort of joking, while Hazel was sipping her water.

"Oh, I'd like that", the gray eyed girl said confused, as if she were feeling guilty of having opened that bottle. "I can keep this for later, you know", she said, putting the bottle in her bag once again. "What's more, it will be better than staying here, standing like two sticks", she said, grabbing the other bags she had with her, which were Myona's and Semyl's ones.

"Hey, let me help you with that…", Ares offered her his help a bit awkwardly, stretching his hand towards the bags she had already taken, but not touching them.

"Don't worry, I can handle this", Hazel said, smiling lightly.

"Still thinking that you can handle everything by yourself, I see", he replied back, staring at her. "No offense, though"

Hazel lowered her head, hoping that she hadn't blushed.

"Guess you are right again", she said, handing him Myona's bag. "Here you have".

"And what about Cage's jacket?", he asked, noticing that she was also carrying that.

"If you also want it…", Hazel said, handing it over to him. She wasn't so defensive like the other times he had wanted to help her; instead, she looked grateful and cheerful, not like the girl he met that time when he returned to the Saoshyant.

"Is it just me, or you do look happier… You look free, in some way...", Ares asked his light blue haired companion, as she sat down in a chair and left the other bags in another. He wasn't afraid of spoiling her good mood, because he had the certainty that she wouldn't take it badly.

In reply, she just smiled, looking even more cheerful than before. "You are right… guess I just needed someone to shake me hard so I could see how things really are", she said, her gray eyes looking softer and clearer now, that she was feeling well… feeling almost like a normal person. "I really appreciate the support you gave me that day, before Cynthia came back"

Ares could tell that he was blushing, for some odd reason. He was used to "help" people in some way, but not as directly as he did with her. Cage made him responsible of what he turned into, for the good, but he never thought he had played such a major role. The odd thing with Hazel was that he had barely told her a thing or two and she was just really thankful about that.

"You don't have to mention it", he mumbled, taking a seat in front of her.

"No, really", Hazel insisted, smiling widely, with that smile that she left hidden just for "big occasions". She had to be really touched to use it right then…

"I was so trapped in my own pain… I was far too selfish", the girl went on, after ordering a cup of coffee to the waiter that came to their table. "I was just thinking about myself, making a fuss about everything. Everything looked like a big trouble without any visible solution, and don't even mention looking a way to overcome it, because it was impossible. Once the problem came, it would never leave. I was always at the defensive, sure that other people would just hurt me, as it happened before…", she said, her voice turning sadder as she ended the sentence. But it didn't last long. She raised her head, her eyes full of determination and with a new light in them. Her usually dark gray eyes looked softer, and she was smiling continuously, an uncommon thing for her. "All of you made me think better about my situation… I'm not alone, and I should give that thing you all call "leaning in each other" a try", she added, cheerfully. She thanked the waiter, who came with their two coffees, and went on. "Cynthia will get really jealous when she knows about this", she added, sipping a bit of her coffee. "A bunch of strangers, and especially you, did in little time what she wanted to show me in almost two years"

"She'll understand it", Ares said, thinking that he should say something. He was so puzzled about Hazel's change of mind. He noticed her a bit changed in the past few days, but he never expected her to make him responsible of his change of mind. What was going on with troubled youths lately that he seemed to be a savior for them? If only he had had someone like that before, instead of giving in to his desire of vengeance, letting go his hatred in a harmful way…

"Ares?", Hazel called him, after being silent for a while.

"What?", he asked back, a bit harshly.

"What are we?", the girl asked him, blushing at the next instant she asked him that.

"Wha…t?", he asked again, mumbling this time.

He left his cup in the table, shacking, before he could spill the coffee all over himself. He stared at the light blue haired girl, who before lowering her head to hide her blushing cheeks, had been looking at him with her soft, gray eyes.

"Yes… I mean, are we friends, "colleagues", or just acquaintances?", she asked back, shyly. She was also shacking a little, so she hid her hands below the table, where he would never see them.

Ares found himself with no answer for that. He liked the girl, but not too much to have her as girlfriend… yet. He just knew her a little, not enough to tell if she could be something else than a friend. On the other hand, could he allow himself to have feelings for someone, after all the cruel things he had done? His sister had the same trouble, but Cage showed her that she could, but her case was different. Pharsti, no, Myona, hadn't gone as far as he did. She didn't sink a civilian ship, but he did. And in case he allowed him to feel something for Hazel, how would she react if he were to tell him about his dark days? Would she understand, or would she leave him, running away from him as she would do with a criminal? Many questions came to his mind in little time, and he had to give the girl an answer…

"Well… I guess… we can call ourselves friends. What do you think?", he said quickly, thinking in each word carefully.

Hazel smiled, relieved. "I'm happy you can call me your friend", she said, smiling lightly. "I thought it would take longer to make any new friends…"

"Why?"

"Because I take my time to open myself to other people, and sometimes I never got to make it", she explained, sipping some coffee.

"You too are afraid of getting hurt, aren't you?", Ares asked her, smiling lightly to cheer her up.

"I… yes", Hazel admitted, defeated. "I think too much before doing anything, and then I do nothing"

"Thinking is okay, but the problem comes when you think too much about the same thing, I have to agree with that", Ares said, smiling at her. "Don't worry. You can still overcome that"

"Yes, but it's too hard. Old habits die hard, don't they?", Hazel asked, sipping her coffee as she held her cup with her two hands.

Ares stayed thoughtful again. And what if he were to fell in the same error of before, and tried to take revenge against Mars? Or more important than that, what if he were to hurt the ones he cared most, without blowing anything up?

"Yes, they do", he nodded, sipping his coffee silently.

Meanwhile, at the ice-rink, Semyl was staring at Hazel and Ares with a little bit of jealousy. Even if they weren't close enough to call them a normal couple, it hurt her a little that she would never have the same relationship Hazel had with Ares, despite the fact that she knew him for more time and after going through so many things in common, things that Hazel would have never imagined.

"What's the matter, Semy?", Myona stopped by her and asked her, worried about her friend, who was very quiet at the center of the ice rink.

"Nothing", the red haired girl replied, harshly. "Just staring at the merry couple", she added, sarcastically.

Myona laughed, failing to repress it.

"What's so funny?", Semyl asked her, sort of glaring at her.

"I've never thought you would have a really deep thing for my brother", the orchid haired girl said, sincerely. "Just leave them. You can't say they are going to get married because they are having a cup of coffee together, can you?"

Semyl said nothing.

"Besides… I think you would be better with someone else rather than him…", Myona added. "Not because I don't like you or that I prefer her for his girlfriend. It's just that I can't see him with anyone else"

"You are used to be the only girl in his life, and that all his worries are set on you?", Semyl asked her, smiling for the first time in the chat.

"I know it's selfish, but I can't help it. I already have someone else to care about me", she said, staring softly at Cage, who replied back waving at her, "but that's just as I feel", she said, ending with a sigh. "Oh, never mind. Let's go on skating!", she said, grabbing Semyl from one hand and sliding her through the rink.

Unfortunately, Semyl bumped into a guy, who was just happening to be skating carelessly next to them.

"Hey, you, watch where ya' go…", she yelled to the guy furiously, making balance to avoid falling down. But she stopped there, noticing that she knew the guy who almost knocked her down. And very well. "Ant? Is that you?", she asked him politely, while she made a sign to Myona to go away.

The tall, blue longish haired guy that bumped into her stared at her for a moment, silently. It took him a moment to realize who she was, and he didn't seem too eager to greet her back.

"Why, if it is Semyl Shambrow", he just said, lacking interest. "What are you doing here?"

"Skating", she joked back, smiling broadly. However, the boy didn't enjoy the joke much.

"I mean, what are you doing with your life?", he asked again, sighing annoyed.

Semyl stared at him before replying. He almost looked the same than the last time he saw him, if it weren't that his hair was longish and he had grew much taller, leaving her a few heads below. However, there was something that she didn't like about him right now. His whole expression was colder, his brown eyes were much colder than the soft ones she had met, a long time ago at school. He had been her childhood friend, something not as close as a big brother, but someone in whom she could rely no matter what, until…

"Why are you so cold to me?", Semyl asked back concerned, instead of replying to his question. "Are you still mad at me because of that?", she asked, frowning.

Ant took his time to reply.

"I'm glad you still remember _that_", he said, finally. He looked much more annoyed than happy to see Semyl again, and he was trying to leave her behind, but he also wanted to know what she was doing before leaving.

Semyl looked down, defeated. "So it was _that_ what makes you colder…", she whispered, saddened.

"Why shouldn't I be mad at you, when you preferred staying with an Earthling instead of listening to your long time friend!", he said, his voice starting to raise. "What's more, you believed him blindly and distrusted me, _me_, someone who you knew well!", he exclaimed, angrily.

Semyl didn't reply, but lowered her head, trying to repress the tears that were showing up in her eyes. She should have done as if she hadn't seen him, instead of talking to him, when she bumped into him minutes ago. She had thought that he would have changed his mind since the last time they talked, the day their friendship was over, almost four years ago, after a series of confusing events. She thought he would be able to understand. She was so impressed by the newcomer, a young, attractive Earth guy, that she didn't take much time to befriend him, and then, they were more than friends, something that Ant, a fervent Martian independence "fan", disliked openly. Their friendship started to break, due to the quarrels they had about that topic, until they decided to stop talking to each other, after Ant told her that he would only use her, as he was new in the area and didn't have anyone else to bother. He even predicted her that she wouldn't be too much with him, thing that she thought that wouldn't happen. Sadly for her, Ant was right. But she didn't want to accept it.

"Alright! I was wrong!", she shouted, some tears falling down without her noticing. "Are you satisfied now, that I said it!"

Ant looked at her with some pity in his eyes, but his pride was stronger than hers.

"You can't bring back the past, apologize for what you have done and act as if nothing had happened so easily…", the blue haired guy replied back, seriously. "I can forgive you for your relationship with that bastard, but you said a lot of things about me that were either unnecessary or out of place…"

"I was blind then!", Semyl replied back shouting, trying to look well. "I thought you were just really jealous!"

The scene was getting worst with each response. Their shouts were getting louder and louder. Myona and Cage looked at Razma -who was staring at the whole scene silently- concerned, like waiting for him to speak in Semyl's behalf. "Alright, I'll do something about it", he said, living Lia in Cage's care.

He skated quickly, and got between the two youths, who were still quarreling, trying to see who was more guilty of past sins.

"Semyl, is there anything wrong?", Razma asked, grabbing her arm and staring at Ant, frowning.

"I'm… fine", she said, repressing her sobs. "I'll go in a second. Ya' can leave"

"Still talking in slang, uh?", Ant asked, chuckling and curling his lips for the first time in the chat. "Seems you were able to keep that as an old child's game", he said, patting her shoulder. He turned back then, and started skating a few steps away. "Well, guess it's all for today. In case you want to talk, you know where you can find me. Well, at least you **used **to know", he greeted her, stressing the past feature. "So long!"

"Bye", Semyl whispered, lost in her thoughts. It was like a heavy burden had fallen over herself.

"Ah, Semyl!", Ant called her, turning back to face her.

"What?", she asked, lowly.

"Don't commit the stupid error of thinking that I had a thing for you then", he said, harshly. "It wasn't like that. You were just a really valuable friend, not my lust object. It's a real pity that it had to end like that, our friendship", he added, now with a real tone of sorrow in his voice. However, he didn't change his attitude, so he turned back and started skating, without even saying goodbye to her.

Semyl stood there, following him with her now drying up eyes. As he turned way, her anger seemed to do the same. Slowly, she was calming herself down, letting go her anger and sorrow.

"I don't want to know in which nice trouble you have gotten yourself into in the past", Razma said, patting her in the shoulder. "Let's go. He had already spoiled our little ice skating excursion. Besides, we should better return before Mebius and co. are back. She must be really worried about Lia... She will start saying that I put her life in risk, if she ever knows that we went ice skating", he said, talking seriously, something that caught Semyl's attention.

"If it's because of me, you don't have to worry", the red haired, big blue eyed girl said, with such a strong tone of determination that surprised Razma. "I won't let him spoil my good mood", she added, louder, hoping that Ant would listen to her and turn back.

But he didn't.

* * *

"Oh, we are out, finally!", Aretha exclaimed, stretching her arms widely and almost knocking over the silent Meredy. "School sucks"

The small group consisting of Aretha, Meredy, Matt, Elian and Cynthia was walking towards the red haired girl's house, where they had arranged to "work" on their unfinished group work.

"Definetely", Matt agreed, yawning. "But at least we can peep at some hot chicks… man, each year we get better girls!", he added, almost drooling.

Meredy sighed, sick of her desperate classmate. "It's a pity that we can't say the same", the quiet girl said, annoyed. "I know that blue princes don't exist, but at least we should be able to find someone with a brain, even if he isn't cute", she added, going on walking.

Elian stared at her silently, sort of interested in what she had just said. Aretha, instead, looked at her with her eyes wide opened. "Oh, my, Meredy!", she cried, astonished. "I've never expected you to have those ideas!", she exclaimed, mockingly. "I just thought you would only go out with a book, in fact", she added lowly.

Matt grinned at that, taking his revenge on the silent student.

"I'm a human being, what were you expecting!?!", the light green haired girl protested, knowing that everyone had her for a nerd. "I have feelings, even if I devote much time to my studies… not as some other people around me…", she said, making reference to the gossip girl and the desperate guy, whose marks weren't the better ones in class.

"Excuse me, at least we have a life", Matt said.

"If drooling like an hyena when a girl passes by –especially if she's big breasted- or peeping in other people's lives at every time is what you call life, then I'm more than happy of not having one", Meredy stated seriously. Her usually unexpressive face now showed disgust, as she frowned and looked annoyed at them.

"The dead fly…", Aretha mumbled, even more annoyed.

"Peace, please!", Elian interrupted the incoming argument, talking strongly. "We have work to do, so we should hurry and finish it soon. I don't want to finish it the day before handing it in"

"But we can do both things while walking towards my home", Aretha said, looking at Meredy arrogantly, while the silent girl just evaded her. "What do you think, Cynthia?"

It was then when they noticed that the brown haired student was with them, walking silently and lost in her own world. She even looked at them as if she hadn't known what she was doing there, walking at their side.

"Er… what?", she asked, without much enthusiasm. She wasn't even in the mood of faking her "cheerful girl" side.

"I asked your opinion about our argument with Meredy. Should we be able to go on while walking or not?", Aretha repeated, starting to get seriously annoyed. First, a nerd had the guts to criticize her, and then, someone who was always talking had gone silent all of a sudden. Was it that they had switched personalities or what?

"I wasn't paying attention, so don't expect me to say anything about it", Cynthia replied, seriously. She wanted to be alone, or that they would shut up their mouths for a second. She needed so much to think in more important things than the ones they were discussing.

"And where's your mind now, if you can say it?", Matt asked her, mockingly. "After all, you are walking with us, so you must be able to hear something"

"Forget about me, I won't say anything", Cynthia pleaded, irritated. Were they too dumb or what, that they couldn't leave her at ease?

"But at least tell us something! What's troubling you?", Aretha insisted, walking next to her and grabbing from her shoulders, acting as if she were really concerned.

That was more than what Cynthia could tolerate. She moved quickly, letting herself go from Aretha's embrace, and walked a few steps away, before turning back to face them.

"Are you deaf or what?!?", she yelled at them, violently. "I'm asking you to not bother me, and you go on harassing me with stupid questions and such things! I have other things to think about, much more important than boys, school, other people's lives or… heck, I don't even know what's your favorite topic, Elian!", she went on yelling, cursing the fact that she didn't know what her remaining classmate liked so she could have put it in her list. "There are more important things than that, but you all live so closed in your own world's that you don't see them! And when someone tells you how the situation really is, you don't know how to act, what to do, or you even don't believe them, saying that they are all lies. But the day you'll see the truth with your own eyes, it will be too late! You even took the whole Martian crisis like a tall tale! "Finally something excited happened in Hellespontos!", both of you said when the terrorist crisis took place!", she said, pointing to Aretha and Matt. "You just think that life's for granted, and go on like nothing's happening at your sides! You just care about yourselves and nothing more!"

"What's wrong with you?!?", Aretha yelled at her furiously. If it wasn't for Elian and Meredy, who grabbed her arms tightly, she would have jumped over Cynthia and a fight would have started. "I never said such a thing!!"

"But I bet my life that you had thought it!", an over-excited Cynthia went on, with more strength than before.

Aretha didn't reply this time, but looked down, silently.

"Cynthia, are you sure you are okay?", Meredy asked her shyly, extending her hand towards her classmate.

"I'm fine", the brown haired student said, refusing her hand by walking some steps away. "It's just that… forget it, I need to be alone", she said, giving up in her idea of making them conscious of their reality. Nothing would happen to them if she started talking more than what she should. Their school had a pro-Earth environment, and she couldn't fight against that. She wouldn't be able to change anyone. She had no hope left for them. Defeated, she turned back and started walking slowly, not in her home's direction, but in her way to the Saoshyant. Maybe some time with other kind of people would help her to recover. She was so troubled with herself since she got kidnapped…

"What's wrong with her?", Elian asked, letting go Aretha's arm. "I have never seen her like this"

"Who cares?", Matt said, shrugging. "She either has a bad day or went nuts"

Meredy couldn't resist anymore and pushed him forwards, as if she could do something with that. "You are an uncaring jerk!", she yelled at him, angrily. Her cheeks were turning red, and her voice was stronger. Noticing those features, that were never present in Meredy, Matt became silent and quiet, afraid of driving someone else in another hysteria attack.

"Now, what's wrong with her?", Aretha also asked, staring at the now far figure of Cynthia, who was already a block away, walking low-headed.

"Which 'her'?", Matt said, as he stared at Meredy, who ignored him.

"I bet that you hadn't noticed it before", Meredy said, now being the soft-spoken girl she usually was, "but she had been acting strange since she came back, after those two or three days she was absent from school"

The four youths looked at each other, thoughtfully.

"Now that you say it, you are right", Elian agreed, rubbing his chin. "Do you think that she has some probability of hurting herself?"

"I wish there isn't", the green haired girl replied, starting to get worried. "But now that you mention it… I hope she won't do anything stupid"

"Then I'm going after her", the brown haired boy said, walking in the direction Cynthia had disappeared.

"Hey, wait!", Aretha yelled at him, before he was further enough to not listen to her. "What about our work?"

"We'll do it another day!", he yelled back, before running away.

"Hey, wait for me!", Meredy yelled, rushing to his side.

That made Elian stop, sort of surprised.

"Are you also coming?", he asked the light green haired girl, who was now at his side, breathing with some difficulty.

"Maybe I can help", she said, kneeling a little so she could breath better. "She once commented me something that could now be troubling her"

"Hey, do you want me to join?", Aretha asked, walking to their side, with Matt following her shortly.

"We two can deal with this", Elian replied, knowing that Aretha would be more trouble than what she was worth, in case they found out something interesting.

"So we are not going to work, uh?", Matt said, his eyes shinning brightly.

"Haven't you already heard that?", Meredy asked him, annoyed.

"Oh, man! Cynthia, I love you!", the guy just yelled, in an explosion of happiness. "I'll have time to go to the gym and everything! She says I'm a jerk, but she really thinks about me, giving me some time to change my clothes and rush to the gym, where all those hottie gals are!", he explained, celebrating with his fists closed at the sky.

The other three youths rolled their eyes, sweating.

"Don't tell me that you take classes just to see girls?", Meredy asked, feeling more disgust than the one she already felt for her companion.

"It could be worse", Aretha commented, looking at him oddly. "Don't tell me that you act like a gay there so you can hug them?"

Matt looked at them sort of scared, as if he had been discovered. "What? Is it that obvious?", he asked, shyly.

"You really do that!?!?", Elian asked, astonished. He had almost grew pale when he heard him. "Don't even come near me again, you freak!", he told him, hiding behind Meredy, who was more surprised of Elian's reaction rather than Matt's revelation. She could expect anything from that kind of guys.

"What? Do you have any kind of problems with sexual choices?", Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not that I'm gay, all the contrary…", he said, as if he needed to leave that fact in clear.

"No, but you are really nuts", the brown haired boy said, before grabbing his bag tightly and starting running in Cynthia's direction. "Let's go, Meredy, maybe we can catch her!"

"Yes, but think about me! I can't run that quick!", the girl shouted at him, running as fast as she could behind him.

Aretha stared at them, frowning. She disliked the fact that those two loosers had decided to leave her out of the fun, but, at heart, she was happy, as she just wanted to spread gossips. Let those fools feel the enthusiasm she experienced when she got the information and used it at her advantage.

"Looks like you'll have to do all the work by yourself", Matt teased her.

"Nope... I won't even touch it at all", she said, turning back and walking to her home.

* * *

"Hey, Semyl, who was that guy at the ice rink?", Cage asked the red haired girl, to bring up some topic of conversation. "If you want to tell us, that is", he added, after Myona hit him with her elbow in his back gently.

The small group that went to the shopping mall was now in their way back to the Saoshyant. Razma was driving the transport LEV that Hazel had brought with her when she moved into the Soashyant while her building got repaired, and the rest were on the back seats, waiting until they were "home" again.

"He was a former friend", Semyl just said, trying to look cheerful as ever. "He was someone really closed to me until we had a big quarrel. What you had just seen was nothing compared to the quarrel I had with him the last time I saw him"

"But what happened with him? What we had just seen seemed something big, so I can't imagine something worst than that", Cage asked again, concerned. He was a bit surprised of having seen Semyl serious and really angry, as she was always cheerful and smiling.

"Well, he wants Mars liberation with all his life, and I had a little relationship with an Earthling… so how does that sound to you?"

"Something like a little war", Hazel said, paying more attention to Razma's driving. After all, it was her LEV. "Prejudice is quite strong these days…"

"Exactly", Semyl nodded, leaning against the wall of the van-like LEV. Unfortunately, Razma turned in a corner quite violently, and made the small LEV shake, as well as everyone on it.

"Razma! I told you to be careful with it!", Hazel whined, annoyed. "It's very valuable to me!", she added, turning to the others.

"This thing, valuable?!?", he asked, puzzled. "You must be joking, or you may have your good reasons. Anyway, sorry for before"

"Ya' better watch out!", Semyl yelled at him, rubbing her head, which knocked against the LEV.

"So that's why your friendship ended", Myona stated, bringing up the previous topic. "It's something sad"

"Indeed, it is", Semyl agreed, seriously. "But I won't let him ruin my cheerful nature", she said then, smiling. "I'm sorry for him, because he still lives judging people because of their origins. Unfortunately for me, he was right about that Earthling guy, who turned out being the most stupid jerk I came to know…"

"Glad to hear that it wasn't me", Razma chuckled. "It's time you stop addressing me like that, then", he added, grinning.

Semyl sighed, tired. "Then, he wasn't the most stupid one then", the red haired girl stated, rolling her eyes.

Except Razma, everyone started laughing, failing in their attempt to control it.

* * *

Cynthia closed the door behind her, making her entrance to the Saoshyant. She wasn't feeling well since she left her companions behind; in fact, she was feeling exactly the same, if not worse. The idea of Ares being the head of a terrorist group, and presumed dead (thing that she recalled on her way to the hideout), haunted her. She couldn't understand why she was worrying too much about it. After all, the one that would have to cope with that fact was Hazel, not her. But that was the point. Now she was the one feeling responsible towards her relative. She had to look after her and guard her from any trouble. She was thinking in all those things when she almost bumped into Mebius, who had already arrived from the Labs with the others.

"Sorry, Mebius", Cynthia apologized in a monotone voice, and went on walking, low-headed.

"It's nothing", the blonde woman said, smiling lightly. "Hey, are you okay?"

Cynthia looked back at her over her shoulder. "Aye, why?", she asked, uninterested.

"Well, because you don't look good, and your voice sounds strange", Mebius stated, staring at her. "Is something troubling you?"

"School", the green eyed student lied, hiding the real source of her troubles. "My companions are a bunch of jerks", she said, being sincere this time.

"But what makes them that kind of people?", she asked, sitting down in one of the main room's chairs, and making a sign to Cynthia to do the same.

"They just think about themselves", Cynthia started explaining, frowning as she sat down. "They aren't aware of what may happen around them, and they don't care! They just live in a big bubble of nothing… I don't know what would be of them if that bubble were to explode"

"So you are feeling different than the rest of your companions, uh?", Mebius asked, leaning against the chair. "It's hard, but you'll have to get used. Not so many people end up in an anti-terrestrial group… or terrorist group, as they love to call us", she added, frowning at the word "terrorist".

"I'm used to be the odd one out, I have always been like that, but now it's worst… It's like I can't tolerate it anymore. I mean, come on! We are at the verge of leaving High School and we are still as idiot as when we started it!", Cynthia complained, annoyed. She was about to start sobbing, but tried to stop herself. Her kidnapping turned her into a more emotional being, because she was feeling more touched by anything, and she was thinking more and more about things she couldn't mend lately, so she was turning her simple existence in a living Hell.

Mebius felt pity for that girl, who was changing her usual personality for what she was really feeling deep inside herself. "They are young, just as you", she said, talking as motherly as she could be. "They must be used to take things lightly, while you, being in this new position, don't. It could also be the case that you could be more mature than them at this point, which is another story, and another trouble"

Cynthia nodded, passing her right hand through her eyes to dry up her tears. "It has to be the first option. I'm not what you would call a mature person", she said, smiling between her lasts sobs. "Anyway, let's stop with this. Where's Hazel, and what about the others?", she asked, making an effort to look well and composed.

"They went to a shopping mall while I, with Robin, Warren and Twede went to the Labs", Mebius started explaining, but was interrupted by the young student.

"To a shopping mall? All of them?", Cynthia asked, doubtfully. "Everyone else?"

"Well, Yukito stayed here, but the rest left", the blonde haired woman said, confused. "Why do you ask?"

However, Cynthia couldn't replied, as Yukito came in, saying that the others had just arrived. And it wasn't difficult to tell, as the corridor was noisier now, with more footsteps coming.

"We are back!", Razma yelled, as if it had been necessary to announce their return. "Hi, Sis! Here I bring Lia safe and sound!"

"I'm glad you did!", Mebius replied, as she hugged the little girl tightly against her chest. "Did she behave well?", she asked, next.

"Of course she did! She behaved like a princess even at the ice-rink!", Razma flattered the little girl, who was now playing with her adoptive mother's fingers.

"Ice… rink?", the blonde haired woman asked confused, her mouth almost dropping to the ground. "But… she's too young to go there! Something bad could have happened to her!", she started complaining, hugging the little girl more, much to her happiness.

"I don't see what's wrong with that", Razma said, shrugging. "She was safe, with almost everyone around"

"What do you mean by 'almost everyone'?", Cynthia asked, getting into the conversation.

"Hazel and Ares stayed outside, because they weren't in the mood like skating", Semyl said, leaving her wares on a seat. "He didn't want to join and she said she would knock over everyone at the ice"

"Knowing her, she hasn't lied. She's a bit awkward when sports are concerned", Cynthia said, shrugging.

"Hi", Hazel said, coming into the room. "Hi, Cynthia. I hadn't expected you that early", she said, kissing her on the cheek as her greeting.

"I escaped from my mates", Cynthia replied, smiling lightly, but yet distantly. "Seems you had a good time"

"It wasn't that bad. Why do you ask?", the light blue haired girl asked, looking at Cynthia with a strange look. She caught that her cousin wasn't in her common mood, and that caught her attention.

"I just asked. Nothing special", she said, standing up. "Can we chat at your bedroom? I need to talk to you in a quieter place", she added, pointing with her thumb to the corridor.

"What? Are we a nuisance?", Yukito asked, getting into their chat.

"It's not that", Cynthia complained, giggling. "I just want my cousin to pay attention to me for a little time"

"Sure. I have no problem", Hazel said, picking her jean jacket, which she had just left in a chair. "Go ahead, I'm going in a second"

"Alright", Cynthia said, leaving the main room.

"Hey, Hazel!", Ares called the gray eyed girl, grabbing her from her arm when she passed by him.

"Man, you scared me!", the girl commented. "What's the matter?"

"I need to talk to you, later. Can you look for me in an hour or so?", he asked her, smiling very lightly.

Hazel also smiled, surprised. "Sure", she replied, giving a warm smile but driving her sight to another point but Ares. Then, she left for her room, where Cynthia was waiting for her.

* * *

Someone knocked at Ares' door, surprising the light haired youth, who was consumed in a little work concerning his notebook PC and a small device, which resembled Cage's button in a great way. He looked at the digital clock he had in his night-table, and found out that it was early for Hazel to come. Before replying, he passed his hand over his hair, in an attempt to look tidier, and then he yelled whoever it was to come in.

"Are you busy?", Myona asked, giggling, as she came in. As she sat on his bed, she noticed two buttons, almost identical to the one Cage had, laying over the bed. "What's this?", she asked, picking one from the box and analyzing it.

"Ah, they are some buttons, like the one Cage has", Ares replied, leaving the one he had in his hand next to the notebook. "Do you want one? In that case, just take it".

"Are you sure you won't need more than one?", she asked, looking at the box. "Hey, these are niftier! They came with some sort of fake precious stone", she commented, looking at one, who had a cheap imitation of a ruby. She went on searching, but she only found another with a stone, a blue one this time.

"I brought them in case we should need one", Ares explained, closing some windows in his notebook. "You never now when they can come in hand"

"You are right", Myona said, while trying to decide which button she would take. "I'm picking the one with the blue stone, okay?"

"Sure, go ahead", Ares said, not paying much attention to her, but to his computer. But this last short, as he closed it at the next moment, and sat down on the bed, facing his sister. "I think you want to talk to me, am I wrong?", he asked, looking warmly at her.

"You are a bit right", the orchid haired girl replied, smiling. "A brother-sister chat"

"Just shot", he said, hiding the little button behind him, without her noticing. Or at least he expected, but she caught him.

"What's with that button?", she asked, pointing to the hand that had the little device. "You hadn't showed it to me"

Ares was a bit reluctant at first, but then he showed it to her, with a sigh. "See? Just another button, nothing out of the ordinary"

Myona grabbed the button, and stared at it for a little while. It was one of those buttons with a fake jewel. This one had a supposed emerald as the switch. It also had a short chain, so it could be used as a necklace. The orchid haired girl was impressed by the work of his brother, putting the chain and making it look better than the others.

"I think this isn't for me, am I wrong?", she asked, faking sadness.

Ares blushed, and denied with his head.

"So I'm about to have some sort of 'sister-in-law', a blue haired one?", the girl said as a joke, but with a cold voice. She was feeling a little odd. It wasn't plain jealousy. She had a whole lot of feelings mixed, and she couldn't tell which ones she was feeling the most.

"No, you aren't", Ares replied, harshly. "It's just a gift. Something that will cheer her up when she goes down", he said, grabbing the button and leaving it over his notebook. "I also deserve a life, you know"

"I didn't want to hurt you", Myona apologized, talking naturally. "It's just an odd situation. I don't know how to act…"

"Yes, it's something quaint", Ares laughed. "I was supposed to be the over-protective one. Instead, I just had to give you to Cage without any repairs, because I was supposed to die just then. I should ask you back, because he's not as good as me, it seems", he added, smiling with his eyes closed.

Myona raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Why do you say that?", she asked, confused. She didn't get that change of attitude, moving the focus from him to her.

"At that time, I only thought about you and your safety. Now you have time to think in other things, so you can let yourself to worry about me, and you want to see me doing well", he said, staring at her.

Myona swallowed, feeling a little guilty. She just wanted to make sure her brother wouldn't suffer, but she forgot the fact that he didn't like being taken care of like a little child. "Alright, I won't bother you, I'm sorry", she apologized again, smiling. "Sometimes you are impossible, did you know that?", she said, hugging him sweetly. "I won't interfere anymore, I'll just wait to see how things go, okay?"

Now Ares raised an eyebrow. "I'm just giving her a small, useless thing, and I'm not doing it to "score" anything with her. Is it that you want to see me having a girlfriend that soon?", he asked, slightly annoyed.

Myona giggled, as she walked to the door. "You may not think about it, dear brother, but you need someone to look after you, even if you dislike people caring about you", she said, looking at him softly, before opening the room. She waved at him, and then she left, leaving him alone with his little devices.

"Someone to look after me, uh?", Ares asked himself, staring at the little yellowish, green stoned button. "I can still do it by myself, but… Nah, it's too soon"

* * *

"May I come in?", Hazel asked shyly, after she had knocked at Ares' door.

"Yup", he said, standing up from his bed. He closed the door behind her, and stayed there, staring at her. "Is everything alright with Cynthia?", he asked abruptly, bringing up the first topic of conversation that came to his mind.

Hazel blinked twice, quite surprised. "Yes, she is fine. She just wanted to chat, that's all. But thanks for asking", she said, looking down and smiling a little.

"How is she dealing with her 'post-kidnapping' recovery?", he asked, delaying the real motive why he called her.

"She's too quiet lately. If I wouldn't know her better, I would be afraid of her, but I know she won't do anything stupid...", the girl replied, folding her arms across her chest. "She'll be fine soon, that's for sure", she added, before staying thoughtful for a while. She stayed silent for a little while, until she started laughing of something she had thought. "She isn't like me in that aspect", she added, still chuckling. "I mean, she's strong enough to get out of those sad periods soon"

Ares looked at her confused. "Do you want to share that with me?", he asked, politely. He was feeling quite interested in what she was sort of hiding, always evading questions about her past.

Hazel became silent and serious after that. "Don't get offended, but I won't talk about that. Not today. I'm not in the best mood to avoid getting depressed. I always end up like that when I think about it, so…", she started explaining, evading his look. Midway in her explanation, she seemed to change her attitude, as she faced him again. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't know if you are just curious or if you want to lend a hand, but I'm not strong enough to face that without crying like a baby…"

"Alright, you don't have to explain anything to me. After all, we are still friends", he said, smiling to her, thing that made her feel more relieved.

"I'm glad you still consider me your friend, even if I keep on the defensive all the time", Hazel said softly and happy, something that Ares (or anyone in the Saoshyant, in that case) wasn't used to see.

"Don't worry. Everyone has its secrets", he said distantly, thinking in all the things he had done and passed through. If he ever wanted to have a serious relation with Hazel or anyone, he would have to sit down and think carefully in a good way to explain all that to the girl in question.

"You are right. But enough of this. Why did you say that you needed to see me?", the light blue haired girl asked, still smiling lightly.

"Ah, yes, that", Ares said, distracted. "Ah, and sit down, if you want. I completely forgot before…"

Hazel giggled. "Don't worry, I'm fine like this. I have been in a chair right before until I came here"

Ares didn't reply at that, as he was busy looking for the small button he had made for her. He was a bit nervous; after all, he didn't know how she would take it. He was starting to fear that she wouldn't like that, and so he would ruin a rather good relationship he had. He wouldn't be able to even talk to her if she were to take it too badly. Washing away those thoughts, he grabbed the button and walked to her, who was waiting for him with curiosity and –why not?- a bit of anxiety.

"I just wanted to give you a little thing… I hope you won't take it badly", he said, speaking his mind, even if he decided not to do it, while handing her over the little button with a golden-bath chain, so she could use it as a necklace.

Hazel stared at his hand for a while, looking at the little device amazed. She didn't even dare to touch it, she was just looking at it, touched.

"Come on, take it", Ares encouraged her, smiling quietly. "It's for you"

"I… ehmm…", the gray eyed girl started mumbling, nervously. She extended her hand to the little thing, and grabbed it still nervously, as if she were afraid of breaking it by just touching it. "It's cute", she said, analyzing it like a child would do with a new toy.

"That's just the surface", the light haired youth said, mysteriously. "Just press the emerald like thingy"

Without saying anything, Hazel did as she was told to. She pressed the fake emerald stone, and music began to play. Not any music, tough. A characteristic piano ballad started playing, a melody that both of them new quite well.

"Oh, Ares… It's gorgeous!", she said, looking at her small button with tears in her eyes. Only that this time, her tears were of happiness and not of pain or fear. "I can't believe it! I don't have words to thank you!", she commented, wiping her tears away with her remaining hand.

"I thought you would like to have that song with you, so you wouldn't have to depend on me to listen to it. Or on Cage, for that matter", Ares explained, handing her a tissue.

"Why Cage?", Hazel asked, accepting the tissue.

"Because he also has a copy of that song", he said, sitting down in his bed. "Now that I think of it, that song brought you to me, as well as it did with Cage… it's an odd thing", he added, with his mind lost somewhere else, as well as his eyes.

"It's beautiful… thank you so much!", Hazel thanked him endlessly. She didn't wait much to put on her new necklace, and she looked proudly at it. However, her happy expression changed in a second, when she asked him, with a cold tone of voice, "You aren't doing this so I won't bother you at night, by going to the PC and playing the music file, are you?"

Ares started laughing, almost bending over himself. "You are quite a rarity, did you know that?", he asked her, still laughing. "Of course not", he said, now calmer. "I just want you to have that piece of music. It seems it's also important to you"

"And then why do you want to help me?", the gray eyed girl asked again, still distant.

"Because I think you are having a little trouble within yourself, and I want you to overcome it", the light haired youth explained, staring at her. "You kind of remind me of myself so much… I can't let you alone, without trying to help you out"

Hazel smiled, relieved. "I'm happy to hear I'm not a burden…"

"And if you were, I wouldn't mind coping with you", Ares said, surprising even himself when he noticed what he had just said.

Hazel stared at him for a second, then she smiled again, with a soft shine in her eyes, which now looked softer, as when they were in the cafeteria, waiting for the others to return from their little ice-rink excursion. "I don't think I deserve that much… I never did anything out of the ordinary for you, while you were supporting me each time I was down… I don't even have anything to give you right now", she complained, talking slowly.

"You don't have to worry. I don't expect anything in return", the light haired youth replied. "But a smile would be just fine", he said, passing his arm over her shoulders, nervously.

Hazel smiled at that, and leaned over his arm, while the piano ballad kept on playing, filling the room with its slow music.

* * *

Ethan kept on walking along the corridor, with his hands in his pockets, trying to take the most time possible to get to their little conference room, the place where Marrek had told them to go. Given the fact that he just hated the guy that much, he thought it would be nice to delay his so desired meeting a bit, even if his sister and the too obedient Mikenne were to get angry at him. With that in mind, he opened the door and got in, while Marrek clapped sarcastically at him.

"I would recommend you to delay more, next time", his green haired boss said, glaring at him.

"Fine, I'll take note of that", the light brown haired young man replied, sitting down in his seat, between Ruth and Mikenne, who weren't looking too friendly towards him.

"Now that we are ready, I'll explain our plans for today", Marrek said, taking his seat in his comfortable, mushy, sofa-like chair, while the others had to sit in normal, plastic ones. "We'll do the usual thing: a brief battle"

Ruth and Ethan sighed, almost at unison, making even more noticeable the fact that they were twins.

Marrek raised an eyebrow, annoyed. "Anything to complain about?"

"No, sir", Mikenne replied efficiently, but deep down herself she would have given anything to chuckle freely... or to join the twins in their sigh.

"Okay. As I was saying, today's plan is to battle a little bit with them, just to waste some of their energy and resources. Ruth and Ethan will go with their Dioscuri, with a little army of unmanned units. That should be enough", he explained, talking directly to the siblings.

"What about me?", the red-haired woman asked, quickly.

"You'll go with your Ifrit, but you'll stay behind. I don't want you to go into action at the beginning. You'll play the file when I'll tell you. That's your role today"

"Alright"

"Which file?", Ethan asked, facing Mikenne.

"It's not your concern", Marrek replied jumping from his seat and leaning over the desk that separated him from the others.

"I was talking to her, not to you!", Ethan yelled at him, angrily. "Which file, Mikenne?", he asked again to his comrade, who just stayed there, silent and with her eyes fixed in the floor, while he was waiting for an answer.

"She's a good subordinate. I've told her not to speak about it, so she won't tell you a thing", Marrek stated, chuckling. "Now, go and prepare yourselves. You'll leave in half an hour", he said, leaving the room, and them behind.

"I think you have to explain me something", Ethan whispered to Mikenne when she was walking next to him. But she didn't say anything, but kept on walking quicker and left the room.

* * *

Mebius was walking along one of the corridors of the Saoshyant, still feeling uneasy about Lia's first time at an ice-rink. She was turning more over-protecting than what she thought, but she couldn't help it. The little girl was like a gift from Heaven, as if God himself decided that she deserved to be a mother, even if she was widowed and had no boyfriend at sight. The only idea of seeing Lia injured or in pain, even if it was something minimal or trivial, was awful to her. She was wondering that and another things when she almost bumped into Hazel, who was also absorbed in her own thoughts.

"Sorry, Mebius", the light blue haired girl apologized, softly. "I haven't seen you coming"

"Nor did I", the blonde woman replied, smiling. "Are you feeling better, aren't you? You look different…", she said, analyzing the now smiling girl. She stared at her emerald shining thing, hanging like a pendant, and smiled. "Nice stone"

"Ah… thanks", Hazel thanked her, blushing and moving her head in another direction, to hide her blushing cheeks.

Mebius laughed. "You look much younger than what you really are when you blush. You shouldn't trap your feelings…"

Mebius' lecture about feelings and such things was interrupted by the noisy radar signal. They already knew what it meant.

"Hi, girls", Yukito greeted them, walking in haste.

"How many of them are coming?", Mebius asked, resigned.

"I don't really know, but well… we'll have to go, you know", the blue haired guy replied, shrugging. "I'm sick of going into a fight without knowing who the Hell is the enemy"

"Me too", Hazel agreed, sighing.

And so, the two of them followed Yukito, who had already left them behind.

* * *

Hazel was laying against the seat of her cockpit, thinking in nothing in particular as she looked at her button, almost as a teenager after her first successful date, when her frame's screen splat in several pieces, each one of them connecting to the other members of BIS. Embarrassed by her own attitude towards her "duty", she sat down properly at light-speed, leaving her little button at ease.

"Be aware. Supposedly, they should just be a bunch of Mummyheads and Raptors, but the other day they surprised us with some Scarmigliones and Grafficanes", Robin stated, directly from the Soashyant, where she had stayed with Lia and Twede. "I would bet that they have more things than that, and that they are slowly showing them up, as they try to learn our fighting style"

"'Fighting style'?", Razma chuckled. "Each one fights as they think they should, not following the "Manual for Being a Successful Runner"

"Whatever", Robin shrugged, resigned. "I don't think they are from the UNSF, they would have already said something, or just blown us before"

"And so who could they be?", Semyl asked. "BAHRAM is supposed to be extinct, after they got their ass kicked so hard"

"I have no idea. I'm as clueless as you are", the white haired woman replied, shrugging again. "Do your best, and be careful"

"Alright", the rest replied, and their little pieces of the screen started to fade out, only remaining Cynthia's portion on the screen.

"What's wrong?", Hazel asked her cousin, as she leaned back against her seat again.

"Nothing, I still need to talk", Cynthia replied, sighing. She looked much more stressed than the others, and her usual cheerful face was taciturn this time, as well as her behavior, which was turning somewhat darker.

"You don't look good", Hazel commented, seriously. "You shouldn't have come, not yet. You are still unprepared to return to this…"

"Stop with that!", the brown haired student complained, angrily. "I'll be ok, so you don't have to worry about me", she added, sighing. She stayed silent for another little while, staring at Hazel, who was feeling very worried about her cousin. "Hey, who gave you that pendant?", Cynthia asked her all of a sudden, a little irritated.

"Ah, so you also noticed it?", Hazel asked shyly. "I didn't thought it was that big"

"I was asking you another thing", Cynthia replied, coldly.

"Don't talk to me like that! I know you are stressed, but that doesn't give you the right to treat the others badly!", Hazel told her, imperatively, but then she calmed down, thinking in her cousin's circumstances. Softening her voice, she replied, "Ares gave it to me"

"Ares?", Cynthia asked, confused, and then annoyed.

"Yup. It's odd, isn't it?", Hazel said, smiling.

"Of course it is", Cynthia said, now slightly offended (but not with her cousin, but with someone else). "That guy is a mystery"

"Cynt, could we talk about this later?", Hazel asked her, softly. She knew she had to be extremely cautious with the words she choose, as her cousin seemed to be over-sensitive in the last time.

"Don't worry. We'll go on with this later", the brown haired youth replied, closing her video connection with Hazel.

As Hazel said, they arrived were the Dioscuri were some moments later. Ethan and Ruth were waiting for them in their frames, at the back of a rather large army of unmanned units consisting of Raptors, Mummyheads, Scarmigliones and Grafficanes. Further beyond the Dioscuri, hidden by a lone mount, was Mikenne in her Ifrit, ready to watch the whole battle from afar, as her partner (and sadly the one in charge there) Marrek had told her to do.

As soon as the BIS frames and LEVs were visible, the unmanned units went towards them, starting the battle.

"Ruth, I'm sick of this", Ethan complained, after a long yawn. "Why do we have to keep on seeing a batle instead of living it?"

Ruth giggled. "I thought you had given up your male component", she said, funny. "I don't really know. I'm also tired of being here, doing nothing"

"If you have any complaints, why don't you talk about them openly, in my own face?!?", Marrek's irritated voice yelled from their hideout. At the same moment, a video link opened, showing his annoyed face.

The Cromwell siblings rolled their eyes at the same time.

"We are always asking that", Ethan left that in clear, sarcastically. "But it seems you are always somewhere else"

"I don't care. You'll just do what I say", the green haired man replied, checking with a mirror that his hair was in its right place. "How is the battle with the unmanned units doing?"

"Well, BIS has improved. All Mummyhead had been already shot down, and the Raptors are soon following them. The latest frames are a bit tougher for them, thought", Ruth replied, checking the data in her screen. "I guess that we should get ready to start our act"

"Alright", Marrek approved. "Mikenne, are you still there?", he asked them, much to Ruth's disappointment, as she considered that she deserved more attention than her dark red haired companion.

"I'm still here", Mikenne replied, her facial features as serious as usual, to the point that sometimes she seemed a statue, but endowed with the gift of life.

"Good. Don't let you guard down", Marrek said, before closing his video link.

"Well, we still have to wait", Ethan commented, making himself comfortable on his cockpit and folding his arms against his head. "Any ideas to kill time before we go to the battlefield?"

"Actually, none", Ruth said, sighing. "I just wish I had a graceful, reliable frame like that one", the blonde woman stated, pointing to the Orcrist, while Mebius was finishing off a Scarmiglione with her new Stardust attack. "It even has stars and everything", she added, much like a little girl watching a wonderful artistic performance. "Instead, I have to run a male oriented frame", she said, now sounding as if she was frustrated.

"Don't worry, we'll get Nike back and you'll be able to unfold its wings. "Then, you'll become proud and sure of your own skills, just the thing you want", he said, thoughtfully. "It's a pity that you couldn't find any other way to do it", he mumbled to himself, saddened.

"Are you sure?", Ruth asked, her voice weak, as she had been sobbing.

"Of course!", he exclaimed cheerfully. "And then I'll convince Marrek to run Castor, and I'll blow up the frame, with him inside it, that is. Then, we'll be able to run away and live our lives wherever we want!", he added, triumphal.

Ruth laughed, tempted by her brother, not by what he was saying. "You are so mean! Why do you want to get rid of Marrek so much?"

"Because he deserves it. We do all the hard and dirty work, and then he claims all the glory for himself. He does nothing, just waits for us to finish the job while he's eating, smoking and drinking. Then, when night comes, he has to satisfy his instinct, and so he looks for the first thing he can find… It surprises me that you hadn't seen it yet"

Ruth didn't say anything in return, she just lowered her head. "You should shut up your mouth. I'm sure someone will give us in…", she said, making an obvious and indirect mention to Mikenne, who hadn't said anything while they were talking.

"You say that for Mikenne?", Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. "I bet she'll love that plan. It's her only way to get rid of this… isn't it?", he asked, as Mikenne's serious face popped up in their screens.

"I won't say anything", the dark red haired girl replied, coldly. She didn't add anything else, but stayed quiet in her cockpit, checking things in her screen and maneuvering system.

"I told ya'", Ruth chanted mockingly, harassing her brother. "She'll speak. What's more, Marrek can still be listening to this, so I wouldn't be so relaxed if I were you"

"First, Mikenne won't talk. She isn't the most social person all over the solar system, but she won't talk, she won't betray us. You have just heard her, and, to me, her word is enough. Believe me, even if you don't trust her", Ethan said seriously, not caring if Mikenne was listening or not, as he was talking with his sister. "Then, I know that your beloved boss isn't listening because he cut his video connection with us, the jerk", he added, chuckling at the end. "Check it for yourself"

Ruth looked into another screen for a little while, then she faced her brother's image again, puzzled. "Yeah, you are right. What kind of boss does a thing like that in battle?", she asked to no one in particular, resigned.

"We would have to describe Marrek to reply that", the light brown haired guy replied, chuckling. He took a look at the battlefield, noticing that most of their frames were falling down, out of function. Just a couple of Scarmigliones and Grafficanes were still battling against BIS. "Get ready, Ruth. Seems that our turn comes soon", he said, sighing.

"Alright. Good luck, bro!", she replied back, waving at him, before closing their video link.

"Looks like I cheer her up. It's been ages since she waved at me…", Ethan mumbled to himself, getting ready for battle.

* * *

Ares was busy dealing with a Scarmiglione when his video screen popped up, revealing Cynthia at the other line of the communication. "Cynthia, what's the matter?", he asked, both annoyed and puzzled, while shooting his Beam Web at the running away Scarmiglione.

"We have to talk", the young student demanded, looking at him angrily.

"Can't this wait?", he asked her, now officially annoyed, as he was getting into trouble, with two Grafficanes shooting their Flame Gales at him. He could evade one, but not two at the same time, especially if he wanted to finish off the Scarmiglione he was chasing, before the latter could attack.

"Alright, I'll make it short", Cynthia stated, slashing one of the Grafficanes that were troubling him with her beam sword. "Hadn't I told you not to harass my cousin? Now you go and give her a gift…"

Ares' eyes widened by the surprise. "And what's wrong with that? I'm not doing any harm at her by doing that", he replied, finally getting rid of the Scarmiglione.

"We still don't know if that will harm her or not", Cynthia said, now kicking a Grafficane with the intention to slash it, but it went away. "Crap! This thing is hard to use!", she complained, almost punching the screen. "Back to our topic, stop socializing with her. Don't ask her anything else, and don't bother her, in any way!", she added, before rushing to another place, in order to help someone else.

Ares stayed silently, looking at her as she vanished. "I wonder what's wrong with her", he mumbled to himself, shrugging, before crushing another enemy, a Grafficane this time.

* * *

The enemy frames were slowly collapsing, clearing the battlefield for BIS, but just then, the Dioscuri made their appearance, ready to delay BIS' almost sure victory a little more.

"You again? What the Hell do ya' want?!?", Semyl demanded, extremely pissed off. However, she couldn't ask anything else, as Ruth fired her harpoon attack towards her. She barely dodged it.

"Well, I'll go after Nike, Ruth. You take care of the other", Ethan told his sister, and rushed to Cynthia's frame quickly, before Ruth could even complain. Without any other choice, she went where Hazel was, and firing her frame's beam gun, gave her greetings to the gray eyed girl.

"Hi, Lenneth", Ruth waved at Hazel, by the video connection she established with Hazel's frame.

"Hadn't I told you not to call me like that!?", the light blue haired youth complained, rushing to Castor with her beam sword ready to attack.

"Oh, don't take it that badly!", Ruth told her, evading by little the attack that Hazel launched against her. "Do you know something? Maybe we could have been the best friends all over the system if we have met under other conditions…", she said mockingly, laughing at that.

"I really doubt it", Hazel replied, coldly. "I bet you would have also left me aside", she added, performing her Beam Motion attack, slashing both Ruth and a Grafficane, which came in Ruth's aid.

"We'll never know it, that's for sure", Ruth went on, firing some laser shots at her. However, she got knocked by Cage's Rusty Cutter, and she almost lost her balance. Glaring at him, she turned to Will's side, launching her harpoon attack. Hazel, taking advantage, made her frame load its Metatron gun, and started firing it several times, trying to knock Castor over.

Meanwhile, Cynthia was having another rough time with Pollux, Ethan's golden like frame. She was trying desperately to get rid of him, launching all her attacks one after the other, and nothing happened, he was still there, kicking her, slicing her, or shooting wildly at her. At the verge of tears and a nerves attack, she yelled, "What the Hell do you have against me?!?"

Ethan stopped attacking, and stayed quietly, Pollux staring at the short, turbaned girl like frame. "Actually, nothing personal. But I have to get back that frame. That's all", the light brown haired young man replied quietly. "If you would just leave it and hand it to me, everything would be over with you. Think about it: no more pain and suffering in a battlefield for you"

Cynthia sighed, annoyed. It was a tempting offer, getting rid of all those battles and such, but… she wouldn't do it. She was fighting there because she wanted to make something better of the world she was living in. She wasn't doing it just because it was a way to express her disgust towards her life-style and her parents. She wanted Mars to be a better place to live, without having to worry about nonsense wars and Earth's oppression. It was then, with Ethan's offer, that she could tell what she wanted to do with her life. She wouldn't hand over her frame; first, because she found it, and so she considered it as her property, even if she hadn't bought it; then, because she couldn't let it fall in the wrong hands. Maybe running a frame wasn't the right thing for her to do, but she had just found another path, maybe even more dangerous than risking her life in a "sea" of homing lasers and Metatron weapons.

"No, thank you", she replied, truly smiling for the first time in days. "But I have to thank you. You made me find out my way through life", she replied, running away, before Ethan could be able to attack her.

"How quaint. Personally, I'm glad that you could find your way in life, really", Ethan replied, with a quite sincere voice. "But professionally, I'll have to haunt you until you go down, death or alive", he said, his voice turning colder, and running after Cynthia, dodging the attacks that the LEV fighters were launching against him.

That way, the two Dioscuri found each other side by side, dealing with the entire BIS army. Slowly, they were going down, even though they were giving a hard fight. Through their video connection, Ethan and Ruth were planning their retreat. Not because they wanted it, but because their frames were about to collapse.

Slowly, Ruth began going backwards, while she kept on firing her weak gun attack. However, she found Cage behind her, slicing her with his Rusty Cutter.

"Argh, you don't have mercy even for a lady", Ruth mocked him, faking a painful voice. "Alright, I'll admit it, I was retreating", she said annoyed, her hands up.

"Just what the Hell do you want?!", the blue haired boy asked her irritated. "I have always knew who I was battling against, and I'm sick of this situation of 'who the Hell is the enemy?'", he added, as Will grabbed Castor's arms to immobilize it.

Ruth looked her brother's face in her screen, quickly and fearful. Ethan, understanding how she felt and also sick of his boss' "mystery aura" scheme, nodded at her, letting her talk.

"Fine. But we'll go in order", she said, leaving her frame's arms quietly, as a sign that she wouldn't attack. "We are after you to recover those two new frames you have, Nike and Athenea"

Hazel and Cynthia blinked twice, surprised by that statement.

"Could you be a little more explicit? We don't know which one is Nike nor Athenea", Mebius asked, frowning.

"The one run by that young girl over there", Ruth said, pointing to Cynthia, "is Nike, the greenish one. The other one, run by my so called Lenneth is the Athenea. And both are property of us, BAHRAM", the blonde haired runner claimed triumphal.

"Or what remains of it", Ethan added, chuckling.

Everyone froze where they were standing. Those were big words, facing the remainings of an already thought dead force. How could that be? They were over after the Aumaan incident, and yet…

"Oh, you all lost your ability to speak, I see", Ruth said sarcastically, leaning against her seat in the cockpit. "I was expecting that"

"I'm using stolen property, property owned by a group of sadistic murderers, and I'm running the Greek Goddess of Victory?", Cynthia asked slowly, almost syllabing every word. "The Greek goddess of Victory, who was always seen alongside Athena... Hazel's frame… named after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, War, the Arts... Athena… or Pallas Athenea, with a slight name change", the young student went on, puzzled. Her eyes were wide opened, and she was shaking slightly. She was starting to get too confused about her whole situation. Hazel, on the other hand, didn't say anything. She just remained in her seat, thoughtfully, petrified.

"Enough with the mythology class. About the "stolen property" part, I have to say that you were the ones who stole it, it hadn't reached your hands by a miracle", Ruth told her, yawning.

"Most importantly, weren't all you supposed to be dead after your beloved Anubis was defeated and your Aumaan plan failed?", Warren inquired angrily, controlling himself to not jump over the run-put of energy frame run by that inhuman blonde runner, who so carelessly talk about the others.

"Well, you know how things are", Ruth started explaining, as if she were completely out of that matter. "BAHRAM had a plan, which we all know that failed, and doomed us and Mars, making Earth take advantage of the situation, establishing a –and please insert BIG brackets here- temporal rule over the planet. We all know that now Earth left that visible control, but they are still there, lurking. Now Vascilia is a lone, dusty and creepy place, we also know that. But… do you think that all that people in BARHAM was stupid enough to make just one plan, even if they could bet their lives that it was going to be succesful? That's wrong, my dear folks!" , she said, sounding like a host at a TV quiz show. She took a big breath before going on. "And that's were we step in. Some of the members were able to get some of the frames and technology of the original BARHAM, and so they hid it, before Earth could get their hands at everything. It may have been little, but that was enough to keep us alive. We are all over the planet, you can't stop us. Some places are more capable of doing mess than others, so the weaker ones support the stronger ones, and so we can fight. We even started creating new frames, like these ones that my brother and I run, and those others that you have to return. So… hand them over, or join us. You have more than one option to think about", she ended her speech, tired.

"We won't join you. We don't share your methods", Cage replied at the next instant, fiercely. "And we won't hand over the frames, because we already know what you'll do with them. Millions of innocent people would die!"

"Don't be so intransigent", Ethan suggested Cage, sighing. "If you think it well, your methods are similar to ours. You also run frames to make Mars an independent planet"

"But we look after the people, also!", Semyl yelled at him, firing her Star Carnival. "You don't care about 'em!"

"Now you are the one who attacks first", the light brown haired guy replied, evading her shots. "In order to accomplish our goal, innocent people have to die…"

"And do you think that's fair?!?", Hazel yelled at him, furiously. "You can't decide on their lives as if you were God! No one can! And don't tell me that its their "destiny" to die on behalf of your goals or some shit like that!", she went on, charging her frame's Metatron gun, just in case she would need it.

"Oh, enough of this!", Ruth interrupter her, also angrily. "I'll get your frames, even if it costs me my life!", she yelled, impaling the Athenea with her harpoon attack.

And so, the battle started again…

Mikenne was watching the entire battle from afar, hidden by that pile of rocks that made that lone mountain. She wasn't feeling very well towards her companion's attitude in battle. She couldn't tell why, but she was feeling sympathy for the members of BIS. The idea of switching sides wasn't her favorite, and she knew she wouldn't –she couldn't- do it. She just wanted to vanish, to escape from all responsibility, to try to become a normal person, if she could ever do it. She was thinking in such things when a video communication popped up in her screen, and Marrek appeared on screen.

"Hey, wake up. You shouldn't sleep during a battle", he nagged her, rudely.

Mikenne barely had the time to blink and think about replying him when he started talking again.

"It's time to play the file", he just said, naturally.

"I won't", the dark red haired girl replied, seriously.

Marrek laughed at that. "What do you mean by that?"

"That I won't play that. You are the most crazy, cruel person I have ever met", she replied, her voice cold as the ice, showing all the hatred towards him she had within her. "They have too many troubles to think again in the past. If I play it, I'll become the same shit as you are, and that's one of the few things I have in clear: I don't want to be like you. Never".

Marrek sighed, sort of saddened. "Mikenne, you don't give me another choice, do you know? You know how much I hate doing this to you, do you?", he asked her, having pity of her, as he pressed a button, hidden somewhere in his desk.

"Don't…", she begged, but it was late.

A noisy sound, similar to a ringing bell, started playing in Mikenne's Ifrit. She tried to oppose some resistance to it, but it was futile. After a few seconds, she was like abstracted from herself, remaining her body as another entity, as if it weren't hers.

"Now, play the file. Don't make me repeat it", Marrek asked again, harshly. He didn't care in a little bit about Mikenne's answer, because he knew she would do what he had just asked her to do.

"Yes", Mikenne just replied mechanically, her pupils dilated. She pressed some buttons in her control panel screen mechanically, as if she weren't using her own body, but someone else was. She opened a radio communication with all the frames available in the area

Meanwhile, Ruth was about to see her frame's health going to zero (a rather risky situation for her), when the so mentioned file started playing, filling all the cockpits with its sound. After a short moments, a conversation began…

" _Ares, I saw you on TV... It's not true, is it? ...I believe in you! This is... some awful mistake, isn't it?_ ", Cage's voice asked, anxiously.

The real Cage, the one sitting in his Testament-like frame, felt his blood frozen at that instant. He had immediately recognized the conversation and remember that unique situation. Well, who on BIS could ever forget it?

The audio file went on. " _Believe in me?_ ", Ares's voice asked, laughing after that. " _You say some funny things sometimes. All of you did exactly as I wanted, my job was made infinitely easier..._ "

Ares felt his heart beating twice its normal rate when he heard that. There had to be a way to stop that thing from going further…

" _Ares is my friend. You said that you were my friend! That was all a lie?! All of it... It was all an act?!_ "

"No, please…", Myona begged, whispering, from her seat in the Calibur.

" _Yeah. Did you figure it out yet? I was the one who directed Iblis and sank Bonaparte III!_ "

"What?", Hazel whispered, astonished. She touched her lips with the tips of her fingers, fearful.

" _That ship had accepted money from Zephyrs to smuggle secret items between Earth and Mars. When I found out, I changed my name to Ares, and jumped at the chance to expose Zephyrs' crimes... and to exact my revenge upon him!_ "

. "Those sadistic fools…", Razma mumbled under his breath, his fists tightened.

" _It would be too merciful to simply kill Zephyrs. He needed to suffer... In exchange for robbing my innocent parents of their lives, I will see to it that he regrets being born! If he hadn't initiated those experiments, neither father nor mother would have had to die. Pharsti and I wouldn't be trapped in these bodies either._ "

"So that's why…", Cynthia mumbled for herself, also astonished. "Damn it! Why had I to be right about that bad feeling I had about him?!?", she cursed to himself, saddened. "Especially now, that Hazel was… better", she added, sobbing.

" _These... bodies...? Pharsti? Ares, what are you saying? _"

"Why did this have to happen?", Cynthia asked herself, covering her face with her hands, trying to hide her tears.

" _My name is Vale Shatner... That's one of them, anyway. The other is Subject 478 - that's the name Zephyrs gave me!_ ", the old Ares yelled, anger and rage coping his soul.

"You are a cheap excuse for human beings…", Robin mumbling, knowing that nobody could hear her from the Saoshyant.

" _Subject?! So Zephyrs used you as a subject in his experiments too?_ ", a naïve Cage asked, while the present one was loading his arms, ready to fire.

"Ares, don't tell me this is for real…", Hazel asked him, shaking in her cockpit.

Ares just lowered his head and nodded, silently.

" _Ares... Your revenge cost the lives of innocent passengers... How many hundred lives are you responsible for?! I don't know what kind of hardships you've been through... but that's the wrong thing to do!_"

" _The wrong thing to do, is it? As if you would understand the feelings that led me to do it... Besides, the one who added the final touches on the Bonaparte deal was Zephyrs, wasn't it? Anyway, it makes no difference to me who died on that ship. Heh heh! You should died along with the rest of them. It's too bad... A real shame..._ "

The audio stopped, reaching the entirety of its length. After a long silence, Ruth sighed. "Wow, I never thought we had that thing in our hands…"

"Shut up, you bitch!", Semyl yelled at her, shooting her Star Carnival attack just at her. "Who the Hell do ya' think you are to torture people like that?!?!?"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that!", Ruth defended herself, trying to miss Semyl's bullets, with little success. "I'm not the one to blame now!" This time, she was being completely sincere.

"This was just Marrek's doing…", Ethan said, angrily. "Only a madman like him could do something like this…"

"And your beloved Mikenne!", Ruth yelled him, annoyed. "She must have played that tape, or whatever it is!"

"No… Mikenne wouldn't do that", the light brown haired guy asked, not wanting to believe his sister. "She just... couldn't do that"

"Then, who? Neither you nor me have that thing, so…", she said, dodging Will's Beam Arrow. "I'm running out of ammo and health, so I suggest we run away!", she yelled, next.

The Cromwell siblings went on arguing like that, while Hazel was staying out of all the mess, quietly. Tears weren't pouring down her cheeks, as Cynthia would have expected, but she remained silent and serious, her frame like petrified in the middle of nowhere, far from where the action was taking place. Slowly, the Vjaya made its way to her.

"Hazel… I'll explain all that to you and your cousin at the Saoshyant", Ares said, feeling deeply sorry. "Do you need any kind of help?"

"Don't… Don't come near me!", Hazel yelled at him, desperately.

And so, another fight was about to start...

* * *

The dialogue in italics comes straight for the game. I picked it up from a ZoE FoM script at gamefaqs.


	15. Deepened wound

Chapter 15: "Deepened wound"

"Don't come near me!", Hazel shouted desperately at Ares. Her shout resembled more a creature's cry than a human being's one, and it showed how hopeless and terrified she felt at that moment. Big, dense tears were running along her cheeks, but she got rid of them quickly, by passing her arms over them, violently and rudely.

"Hazel… what's wrong?", Ares asked her awkwardly, forgetting completely what had happened before. Seeing Hazel's image through his video link made him forget about everything else. His frame went on walking towards Hazel's direction, but suddenly, her frame started moving, and, surprisingly, loaded its Metatron gun and fired it at the Vyaja, making it fall down.

"I told you! Don't come near me… you… bastard!", the light blue haired girl yelled at him, angrily. Her facial expression had completely changed from a second to the other, as now she was frowning, and her grey eyes were colder as they have never been. Her tears had disappeared, and that angry look replaced any hints of sadness that she had had just seconds before.

"Hazel… what's wrong with you?", the light haired boy asked her, still laying on the ground, shocked. Slowly, he made his frame stood up, while asking himself why she changed so abruptly in a matter of seconds. He was also insulting himself with no mercy, for not having expected something like that… but who would have done it? That chat wasn't supposed to be recorded… and if it had been, the only two other frames that could have a copy of it in their black boxes were destroyed. Or so he thought. Considering that they were fighting against BAHRAM, everything could be possible. The fact that someone had found that damned conversation, meant that BAHRAM could have also made their hands on Testament, or on the Iblis, much to his nightmares. In fact, he was expecting it to pop up from nowhere, just to make him feel more miserable than what he was feeling right then, because he was used that things went from bad to worse... And even if he was fighting against that kind of negative feelings, he still had them, deep within himself.

Ares was able to make his frame stand up, but he almost got knocked over again, as Hazel rushed against him with her frame's twin swords ready to attack. He barely dodged them, gaining him another sudden heartbeat.

"Hazel, I can explain it all and well", he started saying quickly, before she charged against him for the third time. "I was blind at that time. I did an unforgivable thing that I can't mend and I'm sorry about it. Every single day of my life I regret it. If I could go back in time, I would change that, that's for sure. I would have handled everything so differently…", he said, not knowing if he was saying the plain truth, or if he was lying to the both of them, especially to himself… He really wanted to avenge his parents and his own life, as well as Myona… not, Pharsti's. At that moment, he didn't care about the consequences, but he couldn't tell now if it was because he really wanted things that way or because he was controlled by Lance Jimmer, the former BAHRAM member. Whatever the case, he now wanted to know more about the real motives after Hazel's change of attitude. There was something strange in her now, in his opinion.

The rest of BIS slowly left Ruth and Ethan behind, more concerned about their companions than about the enemy. Unconsciously, they left the siblings alone, giving them the chance to escape, thing that they did, but slowly, as if they also wanted to know how the story would end.

"Hazel! Are you alright!", Cynthia yelled, still sobbing. Her frame was still a bit tough for her to control it, but at least she still had the command over it.

"I'm… let's say that I'm ok… physically", the gray eyed girl replied, coldly. "Now, go away! I have to handle this on my own…"

"Hazel, stop with that! Let's return to the hideout! There we can have a long, detailed chat…", her cousin suggested, trying to sound okay, but she was also psychologically destroyed. Not as much as Hazel was, even if she tried to hide it by that angry, battling posture she had acquired in the last few moments.

"I don't want to return! I won't return!", Hazel yelled angrily. "I can't stay there anymore, sharing everything with them! I won't!", she exclaimed, her eyes wide shut, as she denied firmly with her head, shaking it. She looked more than a conceited child rather than an adult at that moment.

"Hazel… Cynthia's right. At least return to the Saoshyant, and then you can leave forever… or I can do it, whatever you want", Ares offered, slowly getting closer to Hazel's frame, just to get knocked over again by her twin swords attack, even if he had his guard up this time.

"Don't come near me! Don't touch me, don't talk to me! I don't want to know anything about or related to you!", Hazel roared again, charging her until-now-unnamed frame's Metatron gun. After she loaded it, she left it ready to shot, aiming to the Vjaya's core. She checked her enemy's stats, which were displayed on one of her frame's screens: if she were to shot, and she wouldn't miss the core, the Vjaya was going to collapse, risking Ares' life in that process. She stayed silent for a second, then she sighed. "Just who would have said it…", she whispered slowly, staring at Ares' image on her screen. "So you were the one that sank the Bonaparte III… the one that led my life straight to the rubbish container, to say it poetically", she said, closing her eyes for a short moment. "I would have never guessed it. Even if someone would have told me before, I wouldn't have believed it. But now…", she sighed again, with a mixture of rage and sadness. "Now I have to believe it, I guess…"

"Hazel… I…", Ares mumbled, not knowing which words to use. He didn't know what he was feeling, in first place. "I regret it with all my life, believe me…"

"But that won't make things back to normal!", Hazel yelled, furiously. "That won't bring my parents back to life, nor my until then normal life! You screwed my life, bastard! Mine, and the lives of thousands of people, also!"

Hazel covered her mouth gently as soon as she realized all the things she had just yelled at him and to the others, who were watching the whole scene speechless by the surprise. The truth she was trying to hide and to forget had seen the light in the way she had least expected it…

"Hazel…", Cynthia began saying, softly, but she couldn't go on. Her sadness was too big for her to try to say something nice and reasonable to her without sobbing.

Ares remained there in his cockpit, silently. "So this was what you never wanted to talk about…?", he asked, in a mix of seriousness and sadness. Deep down his feelings, he was feeling guilty, in a way he had never experienced it before.

Hazel's eyes widened by the sudden anger she felt after listening to that last question. "And you say it so calmly, so cool?", she asked him, her frame shaking the arm with its Metatron arm, making it more dangerous if she were to fire by accident, as the shots could go in any direction. However, that attitude lasted a second. She leaned her back again against the cockpit's seat and placed the Metatron gun right over the Vjaya's core for the second time, as she said, after laughing mockingly, "Ha. Why I wonder about this now, if you had no repairs in blowing an entire civilian ship up just to take revenge on someone who couldn't even care less about other human beings? You were brilliant, Mr. Shatner, turning yourself in the same thing that Zephyrs was"

"I know you are mad at me, but I can try to explain everything in detail…", Ares tried to defend himself, but was interrupted by Hazel.

"Don't try to make me believe that you had no guilt at all in this! You made the ship explode! You were the one who betrayed everyone! You killed my family and screwed up my life, and did that same thing to lots of people in the Bonaparte III! It was you, and only you! So don't try to convince me that you had nothing to do with it, and that I have to blame someone else, because I won't believe you, and I won't be responsible of what I may do to you!", the light blue haired girl went on yelling angrily at him. The tears she once had in her face were now long gone, and her usually calm behavior seemed to belong to someone else.

"Hazel! Stop with this! Let's return to the Saoshyant and talk about it there!", Cage shouted, getting into the conversation, being the first one who managed to leave that silent, surprised atmosphere the rest of the BIS members were submerged in.

"I won't return with you!", Hazel shouted back, angry with the blue haired boy. "You covered a murderer, so why should I trust all of you now? And how can you defend him, Cage, being it that he wanted you to die!", she exclaimed astonished, punching her seat. "And how can you also be on his side, the rest of you, if he used you in a horrible way, and didn't care in the little bit about you? How can you do that?"

"Ares is my friend, and I can't leave him behind", Cage started explaining seriously. "It was then when I knew it was me the one who had to help him, and not the other way round, and so I went after him. I'm not defending him from what he had done, which it still is a terrible thing, and will ever be, but, as his friend, I can't leave him alone in the darkest times… And I can't let you go out without knowing the entire story"

"Then I'm sorry for you, but I can't sit down and listen to that. There's only one truth for me, and it's that my parents are dead and that I was left all alone. All the story behind that is not of my concern, as it changes nothing of my life!", the gray eyed girl replied back, yelling furiously at them. All that scene about her past and the real story about her parents and other people's deaths was taking too much time, and she was already starting to feel the need to cry again, which she was repressing with all her strength. There had to be something she could do to control herself from her almost collapsing emotions… And she found it. Without saying anything, she prepared her Metatron's gun and aimed it towards the fallen Vyaja's core, where a speechless Ares was laying, as if he were expecting that kind of reaction.

It didn't took them long to guess her intentions, seeing the until now nameless frame's arm tightened and aiming at the violet frame. Ares, on the other hand, did nothing to defend himself. He didn't even touch his frame's controls, he just stayed there, as if he were already dead.

"Hazel, don't do anything that you'll regret later, and forever", Mebius told her anxiously, suffering as if she were in Hazel's place. She could tell perfectly well how she was feeling, with all those bad times being brought up back to her in a second, haunting her; but she couldn't understand how that usually quiet and reserved young woman was now in the verge of doing something that may be undone later, something that she really didn't seem capable to do. The blonde haired woman thought that maybe it was because she knew Hazel rather well, or so she thought, that she felt that she could guess the now desperate girl's actions. While she waited for Hazel's response, she realized that she had never seen the Earthling general that caused the accident in which her husband died. If she had known him, or had the same relationship that Hazel had with Ares, she would have done the same thing.

"It's so easy to say it, Mebius…", Hazel replied, softening her voice a little as she replied to the blonde haired woman. She even chuckled, as she seemed to remember something that made her smile. "You somehow remind me of Mum, Meb", she said, still smiling, her mind still in some other place. The fact that Hazel called her by a pet-name touched Mebius even more, and she realized that she was starting to get fonder of the girl. "Do you know something?", she asked, lost in her memories, not paying attention to her current reality, as if it weren't her present, but another person's one. "That day, when we were all at the Spaceport, waiting them to get onto the ship, mom told me that they wouldn't have to travel for work anymore, that they would share more time with me… She also said that they would be better grandparents than the parents they have been…", she said, starry-eyed, her voice soft and melancholic. But at the next instant she frowned, washing away all her gentle features, and replacing them for her anger and hatred. "But now… now that will never will, because you got in their way!", she yelled at Ares, tightening her frame's arm and putting the Metatron gun right over the Vjaya's breastplate, ready to fire.

"Hazel, lower that gun and return with us…", Cage asked slowly, yet strongly, starting to feel fearful of that always calm girl. He recalled the known saying, that one that said that quiet people were the worst ones when they got to be angry. He couldn't agree more on that… but he also knew that Hazel was right in being angry with his friend. Only that he didn't share her methods.

"I won't do it!", Hazel insisted, putting her finger over the option that would pull the trigger and hit the Vyaja. "You would be doing the same thing if you were in my place… All of you would do it. Who wouldn't?", she asked, her voice sounding confident enough to press that part of the screen that would fire the Metatron gun.

No one replied at that, nor even tried to knock her over, as they were a bit far from her, and she would guess their move and would hit either Ares or their frames, starting a bigger fight.

Ares sighed in his cockpit, while his image repeated itself in all the other cockpits, appearing in their screens. "Hazel, do what you have to do. I don't blame you", he said, trying to look serene, but a hint of fear was present in his eyes. "Answering your question, I have to admit that I would have done it. After all, I did all those things to make him suffer before I could kill Zephyrs"

"Hazel, don't do it. You'll become just like him if you do it", Cynthia pleaded under her breath, not caring anymore about the river of tears that were running across her cheeks. Deep down herself, she wanted Hazel to pull the trigger, so all the bad things that haunted her cousin would disappear, and she could become a normal person from once and for all. But on the other hand, she couldn't let her cousin to spoil her life by killing someone, even if she was totally right. Those things are never for free, she thought, as she waited for her cousin's reply.

The light blue haired girl didn't reply to anything, and the expression in her eyes was now hidden by her untidy fringe, as she had her head lowered over the frame's console. The frame remained in its position, as if it were frozen.

Noticing that Hazel wouldn't make a movement soon, Cage walked slowly towards Hazel's frame, hoping that she wouldn't change her mind and shot him down, tearing his plans apart, and most certainly killing his first friend. After a small pause, he said, trying to sound the more calmly and determined he could in a time like that one, "Hazel, leave that thing behind. You aren't capable to do that… at least I, as well as the others, think so. You aren't of that kind of person that is easily driven by its passions, are you? Just don't pull that trigger, and let's return to the Saoshyant, shall we?"

Hazel chuckled ironically at that, but something was wrong in her voice, as if the shell she projected over herself were to fade away in no time. "You don't know how much I want to pull that trigger… You just don't know…", she repeated, trying to look confident and cold, but the tears that had suddenly disappeared at the beginning came back, being that the end of the "strong façade" she wanted to project to the others. She tried her best to repress them, but they started to fall down, making her whole "strong girl" act collapse in a second. She bursted into tears, and covered her face in her hands, wishing she could just disappear from the face of Mars in that instant. Her frame's Metatron gun vanished by itself, and that arm went to its place, making the arms stay at both sides of the body, without any kind of movement.

Slowly, Ares made the Vjaya stand up, and stayed there, in front of Hazel's frame. He remained there, giving Hazel the chance to attack him. He remained silent. He couldn't face her, he was feeling too guilty and ashamed of himself to even try it. The worst part was that he had completely decided to leave his past behind and try to make a new life from the ashes of his past when all this happened. He also thought that he would look for a certain way and time to explain his past to Hazel, if he ever felt that he was starting to have feelings for her, or even if he just wanted to have her as a friend, but he never expected to have already hurt her, killing her parents in the past. Nor that a copy of the chat he had with Cage when both of them were running two different frames was still around. Thinking in all that, he was waiting for Hazel to kill him. He couldn't also understand why she couldn't do it. Maybe it was just the shock and she wouldn't be able to actually kill him. He thought back about the past again. He had even decided to kill himself in order to pay for what he had done… but he managed to survive. The reason… that was beyond him. He couldn't understand why or how he survived. Especially why; a normal person would have died by the impact with the ground, but he was still alive, still dealing with his sequels from all those experiments and the high exposition to Metatron. However, Hazel wouldn't believe him, he was sure of that. If he had been really sorry, he would have committed suicide, because he wouldn't be able to live with that guilt over his shoulders… He kept on thinking more things that she would yell at him, when he suddenly noticed that Hazel's frame turned back and started walking in the opposite direction to the Saoshyant, slowly at the beginning, but increasing its velocity.

"Hazel! Wait for me!", Cynthia yelled desperately. "Where do you think you are going?"

No one replied at that, and the frame was getting smaller with each second.

"Hazel, don't go away!", Cynthia called her back anxiously, at the verge of tears again. She even tried to make her frame start walking, but Robin's face popped up in her screen, with a saddened look.

"Let her alone", Robin said, slightly depressed. "She'll come back, at least to pick her things up…"

"But she can try to do something stupid…", Myona said softly. She had been silent during all the conflict, thinking in her past, also. She couldn't tell her that she was also part of that, or at least she was planned to be involved in that, in a more important way… She was also guilty of killing her parents, after all, she hadn't tried to stop her brother, and even agreed to help him. Fortunately for her, Cage got in her way, changing the course of that story…

"She won't", Cynthia said, now talking with a hint of determination. "If she hadn't committed suicide before, then she never will…", she said, coldly. "This reaction and her behavior are a minor thing compared to how she felt when she knew about her parent's fate…"

"Then, return to the Saoshyant. We'll have to talk well about all this", Robin said, before closing the link.

Slowly, the frames and LEVs from BIS started their way back home, with a bitter, sad feeling in themselves.

However, Cynthia stayed a few more minutes there, looking at her cousin's frame, who was still visible -too small, but visible at least-, before she could leave.

* * *

Ethan was the last one to get out from his frame, after the long, thoughtful ride back to their headquarters. He got out from his frame slowly, still thinking in what had happened before. It was one of those times in which he questioned his whole life. Right now, he couldn't understand how he decided to follow the military path, when his biggest problem was that he couldn't help feeling sympathetic for the supposed "enemy". In one hand, he was sort of glad that he could make someone choose it's future and all, but on the other, he was feeling too sorry for the runner of the Athenea, that Rose… not, it wasn't Rose nor Violet, it was Hazel. He mistook her name for one of a flower instead of a tree. He knew who gave the order to do something like that, and he was now determined to settle the score with him…

"Bravo!", Marrek greeted them, clapping enthusiastically, as Ruth, Mikenne and Ethan walked along the corridor, going to his meeting. "Finally you could get a job completely well done! Bravo!", he acknowledged them, in a mix of proud and sarcasm.

He was still clapping stupidly when Ethan got to where he was and knocked him over after punching him, making his nose start bleeding. Some of the maintenance people at the hangar had to grab Ethan tightly, in order to stop him, while some others went in Marrek's aid. Ruth stayed where she was shocked by her twin's behavior, and she couldn't decide who she had to help. Mikenne also stayed in her place, but her case was different, as she still seemed to be in some other place but in her reality.

"What the Hell's wrong with you, Cromwell?", Marrek managed to yell at him, as he grabbed the tissue that one of the mechanics gave him. Pressing it against his nose to stop it from bleeding, the men around him had to hold him tighter from his arms, as he was trying to re-start the fight, even if he was bleeding and all.

"And you ask it, asshole?", the light brown haired young man asked him, extremely enraged. "This may be a little war, but what's the point of re-opening unhealed wounds?"

"Ah, it was that", Marrek said, uninterested. "You already said it: this is a war, and there isn't a series of rules one should follow in a war, at least I haven't found it", he said, making it obvious that even if he were to find them, he wouldn't pay attention to them.

"But there are things that you should respect as a human being", Ethan yelled back, trying to get rid of all those arms that were holding him tight.

"I never expected that girl to be the child of some victims from the Bonaparte III!", the green haired boss defended himself, scandalized. "Anyway, I haven't played that file. Ask Mikenne about that", he said, turning all the responsibility towards the dark red haired woman, who was looking at him puzzled at that statement.

"Mikenne, is that true?", Ethan asked worried, walking to her side.

"Of course it is!", Marrek replied for her, quickly. "I can't play a file from here that you can listen to it well from miles afar. What's more, she was the one who brought it here. If I had already had it, I would have used it earlier", he said, silently enjoying the anger he was setting in the already enraged Ethan.

"You were the one who asked for it! I was just sent here with that record, without knowing what it had!", Mikenne shouted shyly and annoyed in her defense. "I told you it was the cruelest thing to do!", she yelled back, at the verge of regretful tears.

"But you did it", Marrek replied, giving himself airs of superiority. "You are the most perfect soldier I have ever met", he added, sarcastically.

If Mikenne had been a man instead of a woman, she would have jumped over him right as Ethan did it, but she couldn't do it. She wasn't able to do it, also. Being that her case, she just stayed where she was, with her fists tightened by the rage and her head lowered, trying to hide her guilt from the Cromwell siblings and the others in the hangar.

"Well, I guess it's enough of this cheap soup-opera act. Back to work!", Marrek ordered, back to his usual self. "And you, Cromwell", he said, turning back and facing Ethan, "I wouldn't play the mighty rebel too much longer. You wouldn't enjoy it later", he threatened him, talking with a darkly tone of voice.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever", Ethan said, yawning and waving at him. "You aren't capable of acting by yourself, so there's nothing to worry about. Fuck off!"

"I wouldn't say that", the green haired man replied back, sarcastically, before leaving the hangar.

A cold silence filled the room as Marrek left, then the maintenance people at the hangar returned to their works, talking softly to themselves, commenting the whole incident and such things.

Without saying a word, Mikenne left the hangar running, and went straight to her room. Ruth left her brother alone in the hangar shortly after Mikenne left, ignoring him completely.

Alone and with no one to talk to, Ethan also left the hangar, and aimed for the small first aid room. Maybe he could find someone interesting there to talk to, apart from bandaging his hand; Marrek turned out to be someone even more tough than what he seemed.

* * *

Cynthia was the last one to arrive to the Saoshyant, due to her delay in the battlefield, while watching her cousin from afar. She even stayed a little more, analyzing her frame. Now that she knew it's true name, she was feeling a little awkward on it.

"So you are the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike?", she asked softly, as if she were expecting an answer from the frame.

However, the machine didn't say anything.

"Well, it has a small spelling variant, but you are still named after the Goddess of Victory", she corrected herself, feeling a little more comfortable on that cockpit. "It's quite fitting, I think", she added, recalling some things. "Niké was always hanging around with Athenea, Palas Athenea or Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, War and I don't know how many other things", she started ranting, thinking back in all those books about Mythology she had read with so much enthusiasm. "The only thing that's wrong with you is that you don't have wings", she said, now out of her frame, and staring at it from the hangar. "I can now understand why you have some kind of turban, but you still have no wings. You were supposed to have wings in your back. At least, some artists thought about you like that, and I don't know if there's some record about that somewhere… However, you don't look that bad", she added, giggling at that statement.

She looked at her wristwatch, then at the door that led out of the hangar. No one was there, waiting for her to come into the main room or something like that. However, it was time to do that. She would have to listen to some explanations, as well as giving some, and she couldn't delay that much more. She would have to return to her home soon, and she would better do it in time, so her parents wouldn't suspect anything. The least she wanted now was to give Hazel another headache, she had plenty of that now…

She looked at her frame for another time before leaving. She couldn't tell why, but it was as if she knew that there was something wrong between Carpe or Niké and her. She couldn't tell why or what it was, but she knew something was wrong.

Cynthia washed away that thoughts, and started walking to the main room. Everything was dead silent onboard the Saoshyant, and that was giving her the creeps. Maybe it was because she was already down psychologically, or because that ship was so huge and cold in appearance, and the fact that nobody was making the slightest sound made it bigger and colder…

Finally, she reached the door that led to the main room. She took a deep breath before opening it, pleading silently that everything would be okay, and then she opened it, coming into the room. There, the rest of the BIS crew was silent, waiting for her to come in. Expressions of sadness, rage and confusion were present in everyone there, and Cynthia was no exception, even if she sort of assimilated what had really happened.

"Well, I guess I have some things to explain", the brown haired student said, lowering her head. "But you also have to say some things in your behalf, I guess", she added, raising her head and talking with conviction.

"That's right", Robin agreed, seriously. "Who will start?"

"I'll do", Cynthia said, strongly. "Let's sit down, it will take some time", she offered, sitting down in one of the chairs, sitting alone, as the BIS members sat down in either the armchairs or sofas, facing her.

"I'll try to make things short", the brown haired student started explaining, confidently. "As you all now, Hazel is my cousin. She's the daughter of my uncle, my mother's brother, so that makes her my cousin by my mum's side, so that's why we don't share the surname. However, there's a slight change in her name in some occasions, but that isn't important. I can't blame her for that".

"Why had she changed it?", Semyl asked, taking advantage of the short pause that Cynthia made to think how she would go on.

"You'll understand it later. It's nothing terrible, so don't expect her to be a mass murderer, a drug dealer or anything like that", Cynthia said, smiling for herself at that. "Well, back to the story –I'll answer that later, Semyl, don't hate me for that-, she's my beloved cousin, the only one I have. She was also the only child of Stefen Drajener and Elaine Arowny, my deceased uncle and aunt. We hadn't a real fluent relationship with them, as my mother couldn't stand my aunt much. I don't really know what happened between them, and I don't think I'll ever know, but I guess that my mother was to blame. She can be so snobbish and stupid at times…", Cynthia went on, laughing sadly at that 'inside joke' for her. Anyway, she got serious in no time, and went on with her story. "Anyway, the thing is that we saw each other from time to time. My parents moved to Mars when I was a baby, so that made things difficult for me to see them, and then Hazel and her family started moving every now and then, so it was quite difficult to keep track with them.

"What did Hazel's father do?", Warren asked, trying to see if they could understand something more by knowing that little hint.

"He worked for a rather small firm, but that started growing when Hazel was little. I guess it had to do with artifacts for miners and things like that, but I'm not really sure. Her mother was a kinesiologist. They were Earthian, but lived for a while here on Mars, due to his work, and in that time Hazel was born. A short time after that, they had to return to Earth, where they stayed for a couple of years more, and then they were moving into Jupiter, Mars and back to Earth, were Hazel felt as home, if she could say that word"

"So she also had some 'where am I from? complex'?", Cage asked, thoughtfully. It was as if he could clear some blanks he had about Hazel, but there were still many other questions to answer.

"Don't even say it!", Cynthia replied, almost giggling. "She sure had that, and more also. You know, kids can be the cruelest thing in the world, especially when they start bullying… Hazel suffered that too well, she doesn't even want to think about her schooldays… It was too hard for her. She didn't stay more of two years in the same place, so she couldn't experience the feeling of being attached to some place. For her, home was where her parents were, nothing more than that. It was also difficult to have friendships for her. Not only because she was moving all along the Milky Way, but because she was always in the wrong place. I mean, she had always been bullied for something, and so every place was the wrong one. She was bullied in Earth because she was born in Mars, so she was an Ender. In Mars, she was bullied because she was the child of an Earthling couple, and in Jupiter… well, because she wasn't from there, I suppose", the brown haired student summarized, shrugging. "That's why she became so shy, so cold and harsh towards the rest of the world. She feels she can't trust anyone, because they'll eventually hurt her"

"But that's a problem that could be resolved with a psychologist", Mebius said, highly concerned. "Hadn't she tried visiting one?"

Cynthia laughed shortly, puzzling everyone there. "It's not so easy, Mebius", she said, now talking seriously again. "Hazel has to be the most stubborn person in the whole Universe, and she thinks that she can solve her own problems, with no one's help… Besides, psychologists were busier with the victims of the Deimos incident, or with people who dreamt about liberating Mars, or with Earthlings that wanted to seize control over Mars, or with depressive and suicidal individuals… as if Hazel weren't of the latter ones…", she added, her voice full of resignation.

"She is stubborn, but I guess there's still room for more people in the global scale of stubbornness", Yukito joked, trying to cheer everyone up, but he was also a bit down, so it was a bit of a forced act what he had just said.

"I doubt it, but let's say you are right", Cynthia denied, smiling lightly, and washing away her serious face for a short moment. "Back on topic, that's why she hadn't a psychological treatment when she was little. She tried to do her best, and tried to start fresh and new in every school, trying to hide her true depressive self by looking cheerful and active, but sooner or later there was something that didn't work out too well and she turned into her bitter, saddened self. She tried that strategy lots of times, especially when she was in her secondary school, but she soon gave it up, and decided to be herself, for the good or the bad. She went straight as she was in what ended up being her last school back on Earth, and managed to make a few acquaintances, but not what she calls 'friends'. She takes her time to trust in people, and that spoils everything. She's a fine young woman, she's really worthy and she's one of the most caring, sweet persons I have ever known, but nobody can see that, as they just see the harsh, cold girl that she's in appearance. She looks like she wouldn't give a damn for the rest of the world, but she's the opposite image of what she reflects to be. If she weren't like I say, she wouldn't have rescued me when the area where my school is was under attack, nor she would have got into that frame"

"Now she won't trust anyone anymore because of me", Ares said lowly, angry with himself.

Everyone turned back to face Ares, who was sitting silently –until then- in an armchair, with his head lowered. If his proud weren't as big as it was, he would have started crying like a little child, but he knew how to dominate that aspect of himself. He looked colder than usual and, sincerely, he inspired fear. Fear that he would hurt himself or someone else.

"I wish I could say it's not your fault, but I can't say that", Cynthia said, touched. "You hurt her much, but she's already hurt, and she doesn't find a way to overcome her fears and sorrows, so she's also to blame".

"What else happened, Cynthia?", Robin asked, eager to know what happened next. Ares would have more time to express his anger and sorrow. Instead, Cynthia had to leave, and they didn't know if Hazel was going to return, and she thought it would be better to already know her story, instead of asking her about it.

"Well, the rest is known history", Cynthia said, sighing. "Her parents were on the Bonaparte III, in their last business trip. She was about to board it, too, but she decided to stay at the last moment. I always wonder if she was lucky or not in that aspect…", the brown haired girl wondered, trying to repress her pain even more, by trying to be the most objective as possible, almost as if she had never known them.

"Can you explain all that a little better?", Twede asked, in a monotone. "Why had both of them had to travel, for example. If her mother wasn't in the company, why had she had to travel, also?"

"I wish I knew that", Cynthia said, drawing a fake smile in her face. "My aunt and Hazel stayed alone some times, while my uncle was out there, travelling. But I think that this time was different, because I think he had like an important meeting with some superiors, and they wanted him to take his family, or something like that. I'm not sure, but I think it was some crap like that, the reason why they both had to travel", she tried to explain, searching in her memories well. "I think that Hazel was far fed up with that thing of travelling all over the solar system, and as she was in her last year of school, she took advantage of the situation and told them that she couldn't risk her studies anymore. She's quite creative when she has to think in excuses"

"But couldn't she stay with someone else?", Razma asked, thinking it was rather obvious that Hazel could have stayed with someone else who wasn't her direct family. She could have stayed with a friend of the family, or with some other relative, or even with Cynthia. There was something quite fishy for him there…

"That's the point", the brown haired student said, shaking her index finger in approval. "She had no one to stay with", she said simply, seriously. "That's why she suffered even more the lost of her parents in the so called 'accident'. Her grandparents had all passed away some years ago, and auntie Elaine was an only child, born to a couple of only children. Uncle Stefen had my mother, but we were already living in Mars, and he hadn't any cousins around. So, she had no relatives to stay, and her parents hadn't any friends or acquaintances they could trust so much. They couldn't develop that kind of bonds, as they were constantly travelling from a side to the other... and evidently, they weren't too sociable", she sighed, finishing her explanation. She folded her arms behind her head and laid it on them, and asked (in a rhetorical way, not expecting any answer from them), with a confident, friendly tone of voice, "Can you see now why she took it so badly? Why she almost killed Ares after we all listened to that audio file?"

Everyone understood what Cynthia asked, but a few nodded, giving the silent answer.

"But why did she changed her name?", Semyl asked again, interrupting the cold, silent atmosphere that popped up right after Cynthia stopped talking.

"It was her attempt to start again from scratch", the student said. "She ignores one "e" in her surname in every public paper she can... it's a silly way to try to ignore reality"

"That's why I couldn't find her in the databases with her driver's license", Twede whispered to Robin in her ear.

"But there's another thing I don't fully understand", Razma said. "Why didn't Hazel stay with you? You two seem to be really close, so I can't understand how she was left alone in Earth, while her parents were out in space"

"Well… she was in the middle of her scholar schedule, and she didn't want to move to any place before she finished her studies. I don't blame her, she was sick of spaceships and such things, and she wanted to lead a normal life from once and for all. On the other hand, we couldn't move to Earth to take care of her also, because that would have meant that my father had to quit from his so precious job, and that would have ended in my parent's divorce. Besides, it was a month long trip, and Hazel wasn't so little that we had to go and look after her, for God's sake! She was a fine –only a little mentally unstable- seventeen-year-old teenager! That Stenbruck guy was younger than her when he got into an Orbital Frame, and even you, Ares, led an army rebel group and…", Cynthia stopped herself in that part, leaving the sentence unfinished. She knew she would say something that she shouldn't, even if it was nothing more than truth, but she had to stop. She had also to cool off, as her rage was _in crescendo_, thing that was noticeable in her tone of voice, which started calm and ended up in a bitter and quick way.

"Come on, say it", Ares said, harshly. "Say that I destroyed a civilian's ship and killed your relatives, and led an army group and that I was about to make the planet disappear", he told her, in a mix of rage, anger and embarrassment. "Say it, that will make you feel better. Shout it if you want. Nothing of all that will change what I had done, but it will make you feel better. If you want, kill me. It looks like I can't do it myself…"

"Brother, stop talking like that!", Myona cried, nervously, jumping at him and hugging him, trying to calm him down. Cage soon followed her, and grabbed a nervous, irritated Ares by his shoulders, and made him lean back in his armchair.

"Brother?", Cynthia asked puzzled, her eyes wide opened. "What do you mean by that? You aren't siblings, are you? You can't be…", she asked, staring shocked at them, as they lowered their heads, ashamed.

Cynthia clapped once, joining her hands and leaning her head on it, confused. She looked over at them again, finding them staring at her, with a confused expression. "What the fuck's happening here, for God's sake?", Cynthia asked, really astonished. "If you were siblings, why hadn't you said it from the beginning? What was wrong with that?"

Myona looked at Ares, not knowing what to say. However, he had no words to explain anything, so all the responsibility was in her.

"Look, Cynthia", Mebius got into the chat, in an attempt to make things clearer. "I think that now we should be the ones to explain some things; then you'll understand better Ares and Myona's situation"

"Alright, I'm listening", Cynthia said, now folding her arms across her chest and frowning.

"I'll explain!", Myona exclaimed, strongly. "I'll explain the highlights of the story, and the rest can wait for another day. Hazel could be arriving anytime, and I think it will be better if we all think in a good way of telling her the entire truth"

"Well, begin from once and for all! I'm getting tired of this!", Cynthia pleaded, starting to get really annoyed.

"Ares and I are siblings", Myona started, trying to remain strong, even if she was in pain inside. "When we were little, the ship where we were travelling with our parents crashed, killing many people, but our family survived. However, we, the survivors, were taken to a facility run by Dr. Zephyrs, an Earthling scientist…"

"The one you made responsible of sinking the ship on the TV", Cynthia interrupted her, talking coldly, with her eyes closed.

"How do you know that?", the light purple haired girl asked, sort of scared.

"Because the other day I recalled your image on the telly", the brown haired girl replied, simply. "I didn't know it was you, but the other day, in a nightmare, I could easily recognize you. As well as you, Ares", she added. "I recalled you calling the Martian people to join your Crusade. Hopefully, Hazel hadn't seen you. Mom was able to stop her before she could take a look at the TV"

That statement puzzled everyone on the room, even more than what they were.

"Wait a second!", Razma exclaimed, irritated. "Hadn't you said that Hazel hadn't stayed with you and your family? I think you are contradicting yourself too many times!"

"Stop!", Cynthia cried, annoyed. "Hazel lived with us for a while, but it was after the ship sank!", she exclaimed, yelling. "We couldn't leave her all alone, and so my dad went and brought her here. She stayed with us for a while, and then moved to a rusty apartment, within this sphere, that's all", she said, calming herself down a little, but she was still angry, but with whom?

"Aha… and what happened then, when Hazel almost saw Ares on the telly?", Yukito asked.

"Mom told her to get back to her bed at once, while I switched the TV off. Hazel didn't want to do it, she wanted to know more about that Zephyrs that had wiped out her family and her life, so Mum had to grab her tightly from an arm and send her to her room, while they quarreled", the green eyed student related, in remembrance. "The worst thing is that Hazel and my mother never got along too well… But it was from the beginning, since Hazel was little. That's why she also decided to leave my home. Life was turning almost impossible there. In one hand, you had Hazel, mentally destroyed, with a suicidal attitude, cursing her fate like no one has ever done it before, hopelessly and defeated. Those things don't led to a happy atmosphere, and I don't blame her. I think anyone would have reacted like her in a situation like that, especially if you find yourself alone in the world. On the other side, you had my Mother, and living with her is a Hell normally, so go figure the air that you can breath in a place with those two people arguing constantly", Cynthia explained, arching her eyebrows and looking up, an evident sign that she was disgusted at the only thought of those times.

"Is your Mother so cruel?", Yukito asked, seriously but smiling at the same time.

"She's not cruel, but she's too… unbearable, sometimes", Cynthia said, resigned. "She's not my ideal mother, and I'm not her ideal daughter. She lives for what the others say or think, and she's really snobbish. That's not my prototype of ideal life. I'm more of a bohemian spirit, compared to her… Anyway, I'm not the main topic here, Hazel is. And we were talking about Myona and Ares being siblings, so let's get back on topic again. I'm eager to know what happened next", she commanded cheerfully, as her anger was fading away.

"Okay", Myona agreed, still puzzled. "Zephyrs used us as subjects in his experiments involving Metatron, and eventually, our parents died, as well as lots of children that were handed over by their parents. We still can't understand why we have survived"

"It has to be because they needed to test the results of all their experiments, that cost the lives of so many innocent lives", Ares corrected his sister, painfully. "Evidently, we had to be in the latter batch, and all the others before us took the worst part".

"You must be right", his sister agreed, nodding. "We were able to leave then, but soon we got in touch with Lance Jimmer, a guy who told us to rebel, to avenge the deaths of our friends and parents"

"I was the stupid one to fall in his trap, but I was in such a state of anger and rage, thirsty of revenge against that monster that used us so mercilessly in uncountable experiments, making us less human each time, and that made us lost everything", Ares related, talking from the pain inside himself, knowing that his pain wouldn't be enough to forgive his past mistakes. "We even lost our names, as we changed it for Ares Enduwa and Myona Alderan, instead of Vale and Pharsti Shatner"

"I'm guilty too because I went after him", Myona went on, teary eyed. "I couldn't leave him alone. Besides, I also wanted to avenge my parents and all our friends who died in the experiments. Sometimes, I felt I could hear their voices within me, asking me to help them"

"So, when Jimmer told me that the Bonaparte was smuggling items for Zephyrs, I changed my name and enrolled there, getting a job in the spaceship. There, I met Cage", Ares continued, smiling lightly for the first time since his 'fight' with Hazel.

"That's right", the mentioned blue haired boy said, grinning. "He hasn't change in the slightest: he was already harsh, cold and almost anti-social when I first met him"

"Guess it's like Hazel's case: he's not entirely to blame, but he still has some blame in being what he is", Cynthia analyzed, now calmly. "I mean, both of you could have reacted in some other way, instead of turning in a living stone in the case of my cousin, and instead of turning into a slaughtering bastard, because the 'accident' of the Bonaparte III was a massacre", she sentenced, seriously.

"He's not entirely to blame about that", Cage defended his friend. "When Myona and I got into Testament, Pharsti told us that there were survivors. Ned was the one who killed them when the Earth forces found them", he said, naturally.

"What are you saying?", Cynthia asked him, wide-eyed. "Who are Pharsti and Ned? What was Testament?", she asked, puzzled.

"Testament was the Orbital Frame in which Will is based on", Robin explained, suddenly getting happier, as she noticed that Cynthia wasn't so harsh as before. Maybe she was understanding the entire situation and wouldn't give them her back. "Ned was an officer from Earth, under Zephyrs orders…"

"He was completely nuts", Yukito added, moving his index finger clockwise and anti-clockwise around his temple, making the usual sign for someone crazy.

"Pharsti was the AI system in Testament…"

"And part of myself", Myona interrupted Robin, turning everyone silent.

Cynthia blinked twice, astonished. "Again, what do you mean by that?"

"As the result of Zephyrs experiments, we could 'hyper-align' with a frame. That means that we were like 'blocked' from the outside world, and our movements with the frame were synchronized. The frame and the runner become one", Ares explained, shrugging at the only thought of being hyperaligned again. "The runner, on another hand, can be used as a puppet, receiving orders from the outside, and can't refuse them. He or she just obeys them, without thinking"

"We couldn't rebel against whoever who was using us in the hyper-alignement", Myona added, saddened. "What's more, we were designed to not harm Zephyrs. We couldn't even touch him, even if we wanted to do it"

"That's one of the reasons why our revenge had to be cruel, granting him a long, painful death", Ares said, sighing. "As we couldn't kill him directly, at least we had to make him suffer. The day the 'accident' took place, the ship was carrying two Orbital Frames that had to arrive to Zephyrs' hands"

"So instead of just taking them silently and leaving, you had to blow up a spaceship, killing hundreds of people in the process?", Cynthia asked, skeptically.

"I was far too angry with the world at that moment, especially with Martian people, who are always blaming someone else for their miseries", Ares said, defeated. "I now regret it enormously, but at that time, I was proud of our plan"

"I couldn't leave him behind", Myona went on. "I was supposed to go, get into Testament, and follow my brother, but I found Cage in the way, and something was wrong there, and so I ended sharing Testament's cockpit with him, and also sharing my personality with the frame, while I got amnesia for some time"

"From there on, it's known history, plus some details that haven't been told on TV", Cage said, hugging Myona sweetly.

Cynthia swallowed before speaking. "I guess I have understood the background, and I really feel sorry for both of you, but I can't accept what you have done", she said, staring at both Ares and Myona. "I wish things had been so different for everyone… I don't want to even wonder what happened to all of you", she said, now facing the rest of the crew. "However, I still can't forgive you, especially you, Ares, for having sank the Bonaparte. You took my aunt and uncle away from us, who were great people, and literally destroyed my cousin's life"

"I know", he just said, depressed. "I wanted to pay it back by blocking the Marlblanke Dite's cannon with the Iblis and Testament, but I can't understand why I have survived. If it was to see this, I would have preferred to die. And not only for my own good, but for Hazel's and yours. Both of you wouldn't have learnt the truth about all this"

"Your death wouldn't have brought back all the other lives lost", Cynthia said, pitifully. "Do you know something? You said before that Zephyrs experiments made you less human… I can guarantee you that I thought at times that Hazel had also lost her humanity… She looked more than a ghost, a zombie. She wasted days laying on a bed, crying, sobbing, or just being silent, with her eyes fixed in a family photograph or in no point in particular… I thought that she would kill herself anytime, and sometimes, when I returned back from school, I had like the certainty that she wasn't there anymore, just her lifeless body. Thankfully, I was wrong. But I kept having a bad feeling for a while every time I listened to the siren of an ambulance"

"Talking about Hazel", Mebius said, frowning worried. "Are you sure she'll come back? Isn't there any risk that she… well, you know… She won't hurt herself, will her?", she asked, touched.

"Don't worry about that, Mebius", Cynthia replied, smiling lightly. "I know her well, and if she hadn't committed suicide when her parents died, with all the grief she had within herself, she will never do it. I can bet it", she replied, confidently.

* * *

Hazel had gone a long distance away from the place where the battle took place when she noticed she was still in her frame. She was all soaked in tears, and it was like she had run out of them, as she couldn't cry any longer. Her head was about to split in millions of pieces, and what she wanted most in her life was a bed, but she had to return to the Saoshyant for that. Being that her case, she would rather want to die.

She grabbed her pendant, and looked at it, saddened. "It can't be true… It just can't…", she mumbled, looking at the fake emerald stone set on it, as she recalled Ares. "Why did this happen to me? Why? Have I hurt anyone? I guess I haven't, and still… Everything seemed to be going well… I even thought I could forget my past and go ahead, with a new and fresh life, but…". She wiped out some lone tears that started falling along her cheeks with her forearm, and tried to regain her self-control.

She took a look at her surroundings. She sure left her frame in auto-pilot without noticing it. She had to be near the Spaceport, judging from the area and the hangars that could be seen some meters away. However, she was in a zone without much oxygen, as it was close to the end of that sphere. She sighed at that, thinking that life was too ironical with her. She couldn't stand Spaceports anymore, and there she was, next to one…

"If I could only finish this over for once and for all…", she wished, staring at the sky, depressed. Suddenly, she could see a solution too clear. An opportunity to end with her miserable existence was in front of her… She couldn't leave it unnoticed.

"I can't stand this any longer… If I try to breath here, out of the Sphere, I'll die for sure", she told herself, desperately. She thought twice about it, her only –and maybe last- opportunity to end with her suffering. She recalled her previous tries, and how she failed each time.

She tried to kill herself first right after she was told the fate of her parents. After she understood how the situation would be from there on, she went to the top of the Spaceport back at Earth, and tried to jump, but she couldn't. She didn't have the courage needed, nor the strength. She stayed a long time looking over the edge, doubtfully, collecting strength. When she was about to jump, a blonde haired guy stopped her, and started talking to her, making her resign of her suicide attempt. He had also lost someone in the accident, and knew exactly what she was feeling. His comforting words made Hazel leave the edge, and return to a safe place.

She also tried to commit suicide in her cousin's house. She once took a knife, but she couldn't even handle it. Another day, she tried swallowing pills, but she couldn't do that, either. With all those failed attempts, she knew she hadn't the potential to commit suicide. She would have to bear with those losses for the rest of her life…

And now, she had another chance. One she never expected to have. Hazel knew she couldn't leave it pass unnoticed.

She gave her frame the command to open the cockpit's doors, but nothing happened. The frame stayed wide shut, as it was until she gave the command. Sobbing, Hazel gave the same command a few more times, pressing the same instruction over and over again, as the seconds passed by and the frame remained closed.

"Come on, open your damn door!", Hazel yelled angrily, kicking the doors desperately.

However, nothing happened.

Hazel cursed her luck again, highly annoyed. She tried to calm herself down. Well, at least, she tried to stop insulting. Peace was something she was eager to have at times like those, but with the memories of those dark days back to life in her mind, peace and calmness was something out of her reach. She managed to put her mind in blank, just what she needed to think in something else.

"Okay", she said, after some minutes. "Know what? You are right", she told to the frame, as if she were talking with it. "If you don't let me go out in a zone without oxygen, is because I don't deserve to die here. And do you know what? You are damn too right. I don't deserve to die here, in an Orbital Frame, because my parents died in hands of one", she explained, strongly. "But there's another thing you have to know", she went on, still talking to the frame, even if it didn't reply in any form. "I'll survive, but you won't", she said.

She gave her frame a list of orders, while she remained silent. Immediately, her frame went in direction to the spaceport, which was a few minutes away, going at top speed.

In a few minutes, Hazel was next to the spaceport area. She stopped her frame's engine and gave it the order to open the cockpit's doors. Unlike before, this time the frame proceeded as she wished, leaving her in contact with the Martian ground. But before she started to climb down, she typed down some more orders for her frame to accomplish.

She got off from her frame with some difficulty, as she was still feeling dizzy and had a terrible headache from crying so much. She couldn't help it: she needed to pour her frustration and sadness in some way.

Finally on the ground, she looked back at her frame, defiantly.

"You don't think I'll keep you, do you?", she yelled at it, looking straight at the Athenea's eyes. "I don't know what's going on with you, Metatron giants, but it's not something for our good. I could say that you have a life on your own, as you didn't let me get out from the cockpit in the middle of nowhere, and I'm not that grateful for that. Heck, my suicide has been stopped by a piece of Metatron", she said ironically, trying to laugh at her fate. "Things like you have done too much harm to us, human beings. Stupid wars have been started by your fault. Thousands of lives have been lost, and millions of lives have been screwed up, and it's only your fault! Yours, and of all those egocentric, greedy bastards who want to have control over everything! You may be just a tool to fulfill their wishes, but you are also part of the problem! You give them the power, because, without you, they wouldn't be able to do a shit!"

Hazel stopped yelling, in an attempt to calm herself down. She knew she had to stop talking to a silent piece of junk, pick her things and run away, before someone found her and called the cops for being in a private area. Or, worst enough, they could call an ambulance and send her to some psychiatric institution. No one in its right mind would be talking with an Orbital Frame.

"Hee, I think I'm going crazy", she said, passing her hand along her hair, nervously. "As if you could answer me… You just throw the stone and then hid the hand", she added, looking up at her frame.

Strangely enough, her frame had another light in its face. Something was odd, as it hadn't its usual color; it looked lighter. The colors weren't as strong as before; they looked softer, instead. Hazel couldn't explain why, but she felt as if the frame were looking at her, without a determined expression in its face.

"Don't look at me like that!", Hazel yelled, scared, throwing her jean jacket on the ground fiercely. She was really fearful of going crazy. No one would think that a frame could change colors and expressions so easily. "I won't change my mind! I won't let you survive a second longer! Metatron will only doom us… I won't let you spoil another life! I won't let you do it!", she cried, while some tears started falling down along her cheeks. "You are nothing more than a killing machine, so I can't leave you behind and go on with my life the best I can, running the risk that someone else will find you and use you for his or her personal interest. Things like you, that harm people in many ways, don't deserve to exist… I'm gonna blow you up, to stop the suffering of many other people!", she claimed, staring at the silent features of the Athenea, which remained in its place, silent, yet expressing something close to pity.

Grabbing her jean jacket from the ground, Hazel stared at the frame for one last time and started walking in the opposite direction, waiting for the countdown she had set in her frame to reach zero, and with it, her frame would be nothing more than little pieces of Metatron over the Martian airs… just what she wanted for her whole existence.

* * *

Ethan walked into the first aid room, finding his sister looking at some things in the first aid kit. She rose her head when she heard footsteps, and found her brother waving friendly at him. She frowned at him. He wasn't the one she wanted to see.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?", the light brown haired man asked, sitting next to her. "Aren't you happy of seeing me?"

"Not after what you did earlier", Ruth replied, offended.

Ethan chuckled. "You mean the fight with Marrek?", he asked, still funnily. "Well, it wasn't much of a fight, but I would have really wanted to have one. Don't tell me I wasn't great?"

"No, you weren't", his sister said, playing with a gauze roller bandage.

Now, Ethan raised an eyebrow, annoyed. "Do you still think he's a good person, and that he only hides it behind the appearance of a jerk, even after what he did today?", he asked her, scandalized. "Ruth, I'm thinking that you are starting to have serious problems. Stop daydreaming, or watching spy series"

"I don't think that!", Ruth shouted, embarrassed, but her blushing cheeks were showing that she _did_ think that. "What you did today was out of place, even if he deserved it. You'll make him kick us out, and you are the one who should be more interested in staying, if you still stick to your plan…", she said, lowering her voice. "Besides, the one who played the file was Mikenne, and she could have avoided his order", she said, now talking naturally, but sort of backstabing her twin, without mercy.

Much to her disappointment, he didn't look down at that statement. Instead, he made his best poker-face, and said, "Yeah, I know that, and I still have to talk to her about it. But remember, Marrek's the superior here, and not Mikenne"

"Thank God she's not in charge here! I would resign if she was to be my boss!", Ruth exclaimed, dropping the gauze bandages to the floor, accidentally.

"Hey, you! Take care of my belongings, you bitch!", a high-pitched voice yelled from the door, annoyed.

Ruth and Ethan turned back to see who had just came in. Right there was Presea Urein –or Pressy, as she demanded to be called-, the short, hysterical nurse in the base. She was standing next to the door, looking at them defiantly, as every time she found someone in HER first aid room. She was wearing her uniform, usually two sizes smaller than what she really needed, so her figure could look more attractive than what it really was. It was so tight, that it seemed to explode at any time, but she didn't care about it. Her long, light green hair was tied up in a plait, and she even had her "nurse hat" on, just to look sexy on it, as she was the only nurse there, and everyone knew who she was.

"Sorry", Ruth apologized. "You can't imagine how sorry I feel for having drop your gauze bandages", she added, sarcastically.

"You should better be!", Presea told her, raising her high-pitched voice even more. "Give it to me!"

"You don't have to ask that twice", the blonde haired woman replied, handing the small roll to the nurse, who was waiting with her hand extended, looking angrily at her.

"And now, shut up your mouth, for God's sake!", Ethan pleaded, in a suffering tone.

Presea turned back, surprised by the male voice that had just talked. As soon as she saw Ethan, she softened her angry look, and walked to him. "Oh, hi, Ethan!", she greeted him, sweetly. "I haven't noticed you were here…", she added, caressing his cheek with one hand as she played with her plait with the other.

"Oh, I always knew I'm so insignificant…", the light brown haired boy replied ironically, stretching his head backwards, in order to avoid Presea's seduction game. Not because he didn't like women, but because he didn't like the kind of people that Presea was.

"Oh, you are always so shy", the light green haired nurse giggled, walking a few steps back. "Well, I have to get going. You sure hurt poor little Marrek badly", she said, as she grabbed the first aid kit and prepared herself to leave.

"'Poor little Marrek'?", Ruth asked, blinking twice. She was really puzzled by the way the nurse talked about Marrek. It was as if she were talking about her teddy bear.

"Oh, you know what happened", Presea said, facing Ruth. "Don't tell me that you don't know that your brother punched our beloved base leader in the face?"

"I know too well", Ruth replied, naturally. "In fact, I've been there"

"You can't say I was wrong", Ethan said, proudly. "Talking about it, Prese… Pressy, can you bandage my hand, please? It's starting to hurt a little", he asked her, looking at the infamous hand that hurt Marrek. In fact, it was getting darker.

"Forget about it!", Presea shouted, getting annoyed again. "You are too mean! You hurt poor little Marrek, and if you could do that, you can bandage your hand on your own!", she added. However, she cooled off in no time. "Besides… Little Marrek told me to go to his room to take a look at his wounds, and I can't let him down. Maybe we can even 'play' together later, so he can forget this sad episode. He's so touched and depressed by the whole incident…", she said, talking sweetly and looking starry-eyed.

"Yes, I can imagine how depressed he is", Ethan commented, ironically.

"Well, got to go. Bye!", she waved at them, with her eyes closed, and then left, running. A few of the handymen that were walking along the corridor turned back, just to see the nurse running. Her too short skirt was something that they wanted to see.

"I can't understand her", Ethan said, looking at the drooling guys at the corridor. "She would look better if she used something… different", he said, facing his sister again, who was thoughtfully.

"Who cares? She's the only one who decides on her life, and if she wants to screw it up, let her be", Ruth said, annoyed.

"Alright, she's the owner of her own life, but I still can't find someone who wants to bandage my poor little hand", the light brown haired guy replied, pointing his mentioned hand.

Ruth moaned. "Hey, you are being too heavy on that topic. Come here, that I'll do it, you idiot", she told him, sighing. She started looking for another first aid kit, while her brother moved next to her, with a broad smile in his face. "Do you know something? I think you have started to act like a sissy since you left in your last training mission", she said, taking some of the gauze bandage.

"I won't dignify that with an answer", Ethan said solemnly, but he burst into laughter in no time, as he stared at his twin, who was also staring at him, repressing her own laughter.

"Idiot!", she said between her laughing, pushing him forwards weakly, in a usual siblings fight. "You know I die when you do that! Your 'solemn act' is one of the most humorous things I have ever seen!", she added, as some tears managed to fall from her eyes.

"You know, I'm irresistible", Ethan went on joking, doing some more solemnities. "You can't deny that I'm adorable"

"Yeah, yeah, as you say", Ruth silenced him, bored. "Come on, give me your precious little hand", she told him, talking seriously again.

"Well, at least, I make you laugh", her twin said, as he watched Ruth as she bandaged his hand. "I think we should ask some days free and return home, so we can have a real vacation, don't you think? Then, we could go to the video club and rent a bunch of movies to see in rainy days or at night, if there's nothing good to see. We could also go and visit some people, and if we don't want to do that, we stay at home watching more videos, or we go somewhere else…", he started daydreaming, talking lowly.

"Hey, wake up!", Ruth told him, waving at him in front of his eyes. "You know we can't do that now! At least, we can try to go and try to catch some good movies at the retro channel… I think they are showing the first Bridget Jones' movie this month. I know you don't like them that much, but we can have some laughs at it. You could go and try to pick some more solemnly, 'Mark Darcy' type of lines that you can make fun of later, with your parodies", she said, softly, while she went on bandaging her brother's hand and wrist.

"Now I'm the one who has to make you wake up, sis", he said, seriously. "The last time you could see it this month was yesterday, while we were doing some training. I doubt you can see them next month. You know how that channel is: it plays a movie for seven months in a row and then… never again"

"No, it can't be true!", Ruth whined, frustrated. "Marrek, I hate you so much!", she added, hiding her eyes in the same gauze bandage that would end up in her twin's wrist.

Ethan laughed at her reaction. "Hey, I should consider myself the luckiest man in town: I made you hate him. Never expected it would be that quaint, though… I mean, a movie could do more than anything I could say!", he said, acting surprised.

Ruth composed herself immediately after hearing that. Silently, she picked the gauze again and re-started her work.

"Seems I was wrong", Ethan sighed, defeated. He looked at his twin silently, and it hurt him how things have turned out for both of them. She was working silently, abstracted from the real world and immersed in her thoughts. Both of them had known better times, but those times were now gone, and the only things that was left was their present, and their hopes, if they had any. Ethan had a couple of things that he wanted for his future, but he couldn't see what his sister wanted. It never happened that to him. There was a time that they knew each other so well, that they could say what the other was thinking just by looking at each other. And now… they just seemed acquaintances instead of twins, in his opinion.

"Stop thinking about the past", Ruth said, looking at him. "I know you are ranting about destiny, life and those things right now"

Ethan looked at her puzzled, still disbelieving that he could return to those times in which everything was trust between the two siblings. "I thought you couldn't tell what I was thinking anymore"

Ruth chuckled, as she cut the gauze with a pair of scissors. "We are still siblings, and I still know you. This ain't some psychic ability that can be lost through time. You are my brother, and there's nothing I can do to change it… unfortunately", she said, smiling by the end of her sentence.

"And I thought that you were satisfied with the brother I turned up being", Ethan protested, also smiling. Now he believed that he could return to their better times, that kind of missing Eden that they lost and that they couldn't have again so easily. It was so far away that lost Eden… but now he knew how to take the first step.

"You are too insecure about yourself", the blonde girl told him, frowning. "Where's the confident, joking brother I once had?", she recriminated him annoyed, with her hands at her hips.

Ethan sighed, then leaned back against the wall. "If I knew, he would be here right now, sis".

Ruth sat down next to him, and leaned her head over his shoulder. Both of them were getting down, as every time they recalled their past. Nothing too mysterious nor obscure happened in their lives before, but the only thought that once they were different people than what they were now was enough for them to make them criticize their own destiny fiercely.

Ethan passed his hand over Ruth's hair, slowly, trying to make her feel better. "Hey, life's a tough battle, do you remember that? We can't let it go without trying to make something to win the battle. So I guess it's time we stand up, pick our things, and go somewhere else, just to clear our mind a little…"

"But it's not fair…", Ruth mumbled, softly. "Many people have no problem at all, and remain the same the rest of their lives… why had we had to change so much?"

"Well… if we hadn't changed at all, we would be in a real trouble", Ethan replied, with the best thing that came across his mind.

"I don't mean that!", she protested, annoyed. "I was once cheerful, confident and easy going! Now everyone thinks of me as a bitch! You were also confident, and now you look like a crybaby, asking yourself if you are good enough all the time!"

Ethan couldn't answer that. He knew he had some identity and personality crisis, and he couldn't find a way to go past them. He also felt the responsibility to be a good, solid support for Ruth, but things were so sarcastic lately: he was the one who needed someone to rely on, while his sister seemed to be okay on her own.

It just looked like that, as Ruth was looking anxiously for someone to trust completely, and thought once that Marrek could be a good idea. She wouldn't admit it, but she already knew that the green hair boss wasn't what she expected him to be. The worst part is that she left some important things back to follow him. Important things like nationality, for example. She sighed, defeated. Thinking in those things hurt her. But after leaving everything behind for an illusion, she wouldn't admit that she was wrong. She was determined to go on with her acting until the very end…

"Alright, forget everything I said", she said, ordering her ideas carefully. "We can go on talking about this some other day, but not today. To move to another topic, I have to tell you that I can sense that you are eager to ask me if it hurt me the fact that Presea was going to end in Marrek's bed"

Ethan looked at her with his eyes wide opened, exaggerating his 'confused' look. "You are right, I wanted to ask you that", he admitted, talking naturally. "And? Did it hurt? Can you realize now the shit that he is?"

"First, this is nothing but a scratch", Ruth said, enumerating the topics with her fingers. "Second, I already know the type of person he is. I guess I can't hide it anymore from you: he's deceiving me a little each day…"

"I did it! I can know rest at peace!", her brother claimed, enthusiastically. "Now, you have to get him out of your mind, and after some more acting, we can leave…"

"I never said I stopped loving him", Ruth stopped her brother seriously. "I still have some feelings for him", she said, lying to him and to herself. Then, she stood up, and walked to the door. "I guess I did a good job with your hand and wrist. I'll see you later"

"Yeah, a fine job, indeed. Thanks", he thanked her, not so enthusiastically now.

"Oh, and before I leave", Ruth added, half of her body out of the room. "You should also think well about Mikenne. Maybe she isn't the girl you think she is, at heart"

"I'll have that in mind, but you still have to tell me why you hate her so much", Ethan said, closing the first aid kit.

"That's a story for another time. Maybe I can tell you another day", she said, smiling. "Bye", she greeted him, waving at him, and then she left.

"Bye", he said, just to himself. He leaned his head back against the wall for another time, as he wondered about everyone on that base, especially on the dark red haired, silent girl. "Mikenne, Mikenne", he whispered, saddened. "Is it that I also made a mistake with you?"

* * *

Hazel slammed the door of the Saoshyant abruptly, while she wiped away her last tears with her forearm. Jean clothes weren't the best thing in the world to wipe away tears, so her eyes were even more red than what she expected, just because of the reaction of the jean against her wet skin.

She started walking through the corridor, low-headed and silent, not paying attention to anything in her surroundings. She wasn't crying anymore, but it was obvious that she had stopped recently to do that.

Without noticing it, she got near the main room, but she didn't entered it. Instead, she went on walking, thinking just in getting to her room.

"Hey, Hazel, how are you?", Yukito asked her, naturally. He had just seen her walking in, and he wasn't going to let her walk by without letting know the others, and without trying to speak to her.

"Don't be sarcastic and don't make fun of me", the light blue haired girl moaned as a reply, as she went on walking.

"Hey, I'm serious!", the green haired young man protested, walking to the main room's doorframe. "I want to know how are you doing. I know you are passing through a bad moment and all that, and I'm not asking this to make fun of you", he explained, talking seriously. "We do worry about you"

Hazel chuckled ironically at that. "Yeah, yeah, as you say. You worry about me… sure, as you say", she went on, sarcastically. "You worry so much that you think that protecting a mass murderer is a good idea, even if I would have nothing to do with the Bonaparte. You are all such good hearted people… it's a shame that you guys hadn't been awarded with the Nobel prize yet, for your contributions concerning World and Universal Peace…"

"Hazel, stop being that sarcastic. We do care about you", Mebius said from behind, carrying Lia in her arms.

"Oh, hi, Mebius, hi, Lia", she greeted them, uninterested. "I don't want to discuss with you, Mebius, I really think you are a great woman but… come on! Don't say that you all care about me and know how I feel! It's nonsense!"

"It's not nonsense", Mebius protested, angrily. "We do think in you. Even Ares does, and he really regrets what he has done before…"

"Don't even mention that bastard!", Hazel demanded, furiously. "He doesn't know what the words 'sorry' and 'regretful' mean! I don't even care if he regrets it or not! What he has done won't change!"

"Hazel, you are back!", Cynthia exclaimed, from the other side of the corridor. She went running to her encounter, and hugged her tightly, as she sobbed a little more. "Please, stop acting like this… We can all chat later when everyone gets out from this shock", she whispered to Hazel.

"I'm doing the best I can, Cynthia. You can't ask me to act as if nothing has ever happened", Hazel told her cousin seriously, as she released herself from her cousin's hug. "Now, everyone, let's do things easier and let me get my things. Then, I'll leave and you will never know of me again in your lives"

Almost everyone from the Saoshyant had gathered in the corridor, with the exception of Ares, who decided that it would be best not to appear in front of her right then, but a little later. However, he was in his room, which was along the corridor, listening everything from there.

"What? I'm today's fancy attraction or what?", Hazel asked harshly to the others, realizing that everyone was now in the corridor, staring at her with different faces, going from sadness to indifference.

"Hazel, calm down, you are still shocked…", Robin began saying, but she was interrupted by Hazel.

"What? Do you also think that I will forget everything after talking with you? Don't be stupid, nothing will change what I think and believe!", the gray eyed girl said, rudely. "You can have all those chats for yourself. I just want to pick up my things and leave this place. Is it something too difficult to accomplish?"

Robin sighed. "No, but…"

"Perfect then. Just let me do my own business and everything will be over", Hazel said, coldly. "You won't have to deal neither with me nor with my odd behavior anymore, and I won't have to deal with a bunch of people who keeps on covering a murderer, nor I'll have to see him everyday, at any time…"

"Hazel, I can't ask you to forget it all, but you could at least listen to us", Myona begged her, shyly, yet confidently. "You can't judge just by what you know now"

Hazel laughed mockingly at that. "Yeah, okay. There has to be something that will save his position", she said, sarcastically. "Myona, forget about it", she said, naturally now. "What he had done is unforgettable and unforgivable. Nothing can save him from what he had done… Besides, what could change his position? Is there something that could make him less guilty than what he is?"

"Well, I was supposed to help him in making the ship sunk, but I couldn't help my brother then", Myona said, lowering her head.

Hazel looked at her oddly, then did something similar to a chuckle. "What do you mean by that? What do you mean with 'brother'? Is it that Ares and you… are siblings?"

Myona took some moments to reply, thing that drove Hazel crazier.

"Come on! Talk!", the light blue haired girl demanded, furiously. "What does this mean? You and him wanted to bring down a spaceship full of passengers? And why? Just because you were bored?"

"Hazel, everything has an explanation… Let me tell you everything, but first calm down", Myona begged her, softly and nervously. "You are really scaring me now"

"So am I scaring you, uh?", Hazel asked, sarcastically. "How do you expect me to act?", she asked, punching the wall with her fist closed, while some tears got from her eyes. "I'm also scared! Not, wait, I'm not scared, I'm terrified! I don't know anything anymore! I have no idea where have I gotten myself into! I have no idea of who are you anymore! I now think you are all ex-convicts, mass-murderers or something like that, and I'm afraid of staying here a minute longer! I don't have the slightest, fucking idea of who am I or who are you anymore! I don't know anything anymore!", she shouted, now looking slightly calmer than before. "I don't want to listen to any of your excuses anymore! I'll pick my things, and I'll disappear, at least from here", she said, starting walking again.

Razma and Semyl opened the small circle that all the BIS members had made around Hazel, to let her pass. Hazel walked past them, quickly, without saying a word.

"Hazel, what are you going to do now?", Mebius asked her, cautiously.

"I don't have idea", she replied, not turning back. "And if I had it, I wouldn't tell it to you. I can't trust anymore on you, can I?", she asked, sarcastically.

"Not that you have trusted much before", Warren replied back, naturally.

"You are right. But I was feeling good enough to start trusting in all of you", Hazel replied, chuckling. She opened her door, but Robin called her before she could get into her room.

"Don't take it badly, but what had you done with your frame?", the light haired woman asked her, concerned. "It's not in the hangar or outside"

Hazel chuckled ironically again. "I knew you cared about _me_", she commented, bitterly. "I got rid of it. It was the best thing I could do", she said, now talking naturally and halfway out of the corridor. "And don't waste your time in looking for it: I blew it up, so there's nothing left of it", she said, before slamming the door, leaving behind the speechless members of BIS.

* * *

Mikenne opened her eyes. Nothing had changed since she last closed them, some minutes ago. Her hope vanished as she realize that everything was the same. Not that she really believed that everything could change by simply closing and opening her eyes, but she really wanted that to come true some day.

She was again at her room, sitting in her bedroom. She had been wondering about her life, as some many other times before.

What she had done that same afternoon had no name. Even if she wasn't entirely conscious when she played the file, she still did it, and so, she was to blame. She was responsible of what happened later, even if she couldn't do anything to avoid the orders given to her. She was guilty, because if she wasn't there, nobody would have played the file…

"Don't be stupid", she told herself, harshly. "Marrek could have tricked Ruth easily to do it. She still wants to do anything she can to please him", she added, trying to find good reasons to stop torturing herself with her guilty feeling.

She sighed again, feeling pity of herself. Every time she listened to that bell-like sound, everything was over. There was no way out from that, until she was released from it. The hyper-alignment banned her from acting on her own, but it also made her feel nothing in particular about what her body could do. She used to not feel anything about the acts she did when she was under someone else's control. It was as if she borrowed her body to someone else. She wasn't the one to blame, because she couldn't control herself in that mode. She had no will over herself.

"In what was I thinking about when I let them do this to me…?", she wondered for herself, before closing her eyes again, still hoping that a simple thing like that could change her luck…

* * *

Hazel was busy picking her clothes when someone had the bad idea of knocking at her door.

"I don't want to talk to anyone!", she shouted, dropping a pile of clothes to the floor, furiously.

However, the door opened, and Cynthia came in, looking concerned.

"Ah, it's you", Hazel said, defeated. "Don't look at me like that, I'm doing the best I can", she told her cousin, as she grabbed some of the clothes from the ground.

"I know, you don't have to explain anything to me", Cynthia told her calmly, as she sat down in Hazel's small sofa. "Do you need any help?"

"No, thank you", Hazel replied, putting her things in her travel bag. "I'm acting like a spoiled child, am I not?", she asked, smiling weakly at Cynthia.

"I can't blame you, but you are acting quite strange, considering your usual behavior…", the brown haired girl admitted, shyly. "But you are doing the best you can, aren't you?"

"Of course I am… but it's not fair", Hazel said, getting thoughtfully. "I have already passed through this… Why should I revive it, with an extra load of pain?", she protested, bitterly. "The worst part is that I hadn't recovered from the 'first impact', and now… this", she added, sighing and repressing her big need of crying.

"You'll be okay… I'm sure of it", Cynthia said sweetly, hugging her cousin, motherly. "You'll pass through this quickly, I know it. It's just the first impression…"

"What? Do you also think that I'm just shocked at the news?", Hazel asked her, offended. "I won't forgive him for what he has done… I just can't…", she said. It was painful for her to know that the guy who had been nice to her some times before, and even some hours ago, was the one who killed her parents. A quaint coincidence. "Cynthia, how is it that Ares and Myona are siblings?", she asked, softly. It was slightly noticeable that she was feeling disappointed at him, and at everyone in the Saoshyant.

"I knew it wouldn't take long before you asked that", Cynthia said, giggling. At the annoyed stare that Hazel gave her, she said, nervously, "Hey, I was trying to cheer you up!"

"Don't bother to do that", the gray eyed girl told her, harshly. "Just tell me about them, okay?"

"Yes, sir!", Cynthia joked, but apologized at the next second, before Hazel could glare at her again. "Do you remember Dr. Zephyrs, do you?", she asked, finding a way to extend the beginning, so she could order her ideas before starting.

"Of course I do", Hazel protested, annoyed. "He was the one I hated most… until this evening"

"However, Zephyrs is still responsible. If he hadn't used Ares and Myona in his experiments, nothing would have happened", Cynthia said, energetically.

"What happened to them?", Hazel asked, staring at Cynthia and leaving what she was doing for later. "What kind of experiments?"

"Ironically enough, they were in a spaceship "accident" when they were little. The Earthling General that found the survivors was Dr. Zephyrs, and he took all the survivors with him, and used them as subjects in some wicked experiments with Metatron. Their parents died because of that, as well as lots of other children, the friends that they made in that place", Cynthia told her, summing up their story. "When they got out from there they met a guy who told them to rebel, and who support them in the Bonaparte III crash. Ares got a job in the ship, and changed his name from Vale Shatner to Ares, while Myona did the same, leaving her name Pharsti behind", she went on, caressing her cousin's hair, who was now laying on the bed, with her head on Cynthia's lap. "Zephyrs was smuggling things from Earth to Mars with the Bonaparte III, and then… you know what happened next".

"There's no need to mention it", Hazel stopped her, firmly.

"Myona was supposed to help him in… that, but she couldn't. Seems that she had some problem, and then escaped with Cage in another frame. She had amnesia when she got into the frame with him", Cynthia added.

Hazel took a deep breath, before talking. "Whatever happened to them, that doesn't allow them to go and throw havoc over other people's lives…"

"That's exactly what I said", Cynthia agreed with her cousin, concerned. "But you know, at those times nobody can really discern what you are really doing…"

Hazel sat down and looked at her angrily. "Are you kidding me?", she asked Cynthia, annoyed. "You can't tell me he didn't know what he was about to do. He must have seen the queue at the Spaceport to get a seat on the ship. He must have seen all the people there who went to bid some relatives or friends a goodbye… which turned into a farewell. You can't tell me that he wasn't conscious of what he was about to do"

"I wasn't defending them!", Cynthia cried, feeling guilty of having offended her cousin. "By the way, you keep on saying 'him', instead of 'them'", she added, innocently.

Hazel opened her eyes widely, surprised. "It must be that I still can't see Myona involved in something like that… Or because she wasn't the one who blew up the ship, even if she planned to do it… God, bless Cage for having appeared in Myona's path…", she pleaded, but soon corrected herself, "Anyway, it's useless, because he managed to sink it alone…"

"Hazel, stop thinking about that", Cynthia asked her, making her lean back in the bed, with her head on her lap. "Rest a little, and then we can think in what to do next, if you don't want to stay here any longer. You can't think well when you are hot-tempered, can you?", she asked her, smiling cheerfully.

Hazel nodded, silently. If she was to speak right then, she would start crying. Cynthia was talking just as her mother at that moment… It was so painful, but so necessary at that time…

"Cynthia, please tell me that I'm not your long lost big sister, for God's sake!", Hazel begged her, after being silent a few moments. "It's the only thing I need to know to die right now…"

"No, you aren't, as far as I know", Cynthia told her, smiling at her. "You are just my cousin, my preferred one, actually"

"Don't be silly! I'm your only cousin!", Hazel protested, slightly annoyed.

"That's why I said it!", Cynthia exclaimed chuckling.

Hazel rolled her eyes, but ended up giving a little smile.

Just then, someone knocked the door, again.

"Who could it be?", the young student asked, staring at the door.

"I don't want to see anybody, okay?", Hazel told her, annoyed. "So whoever it is, just kick him or her out"

"I'll go and see", Cynthia said, standing up, while Hazel sat down, just to see who was behind the door.

Cynthia walked to the door and opened it, and had to repress her desire to slam it in Ares' face. Not because she didn't want to see him, but because her cousin didn't. However, she didn't do that, and stared at him, puzzled.

"Can I talk to your cousin?", Ares asked, harsh as usual, but it was noticeable that he wasn't feeling good about what had happened before.

"Cynthia, who is it?", Hazel asked, standing up from the bed and walking a few steps, so she could see who was behind Cynthia. If Cynthia wouldn't have covered the door with her body, she would have seen who was there without having to ask.

Hazel's tired expression turned into one of anger as soon as she saw Ares. "What the Hell are you doing here?", she asked him, furiously. "Have you come here to enjoy my pain or what?"

"I think both of you deserve a private chat…", Cynthia said softly, starting to feel scared of her cousin's behavior.

"What? Cynthia, don't leave me with him alone!", Hazel protested, astonished.

"Sorry", Cynthia apologized. "I had already heard his story… Besides, both of you **really** need to talk alone", she said, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

"Cynthia!", Hazel called her, but her cousin was already out when she finished her phrase. Defeated, she sat down on her bed, and looked down, asking herself what to do in that moment.

"Hazel… I… I know that what I did is something unforgivable and hideous", Ares started talking, ordering his feelings and thoughts in his mind. "I regret it each day of my life. I really do. I know that you don't want to hear me or see me for a long time, but I have to say something to you. I can't escape from this. I know that nothing will be as before by just talking, but I can't be such a jerk and say nothing about the whole matter. I need you to listen to my side of the story…"

Hazel made a fake chuckle. "As if that would bring my parents back to life", she mumbled bitterly and clearly.

"I know that!", Ares shouted, nervously. He took a deep breath. "I didn't want to shout, sorry for that", he apologized, tired. It was as if he had an extremely huge weight over his shoulders. It wasn't less: Hazel's icy –yet comprehensible- attitude, and the fact that she was part of a group of people he had never thought about before were like a heavy load. An extremely huge one, indeed. "I… I was blind and sick of hatred at that time", he began again, thinking each word carefully. "I wanted to make Zephyrs suffer for what he had done to my family and to all those other children in his labs. Wait, you don't know about that…", he said loudly, thinking in loud voice.

"I already heard that Myona is your sister and that both of you were used as subjects in experiments under Zephyrs orders", Hazel interrupted him, still low-headed. "I don't know what terrible things that son of a bitch must have done to both of you and to all those who didn't survive, and I do feel sorry for both of you, but… that doesn't allow you to go and sunk a civilian ship with hundreds of people onboard!", she complained, trying to repress her real feelings. She couldn't face him, still, and she was holding herself tightly from the bed edge's.

"I know!", Ares cried, nervously. "I know that that wasn't the way to do things, but it was going to be just the beginning. We wanted to steal his so precious Orbital Frames, and to stop his smuggling between Earth and Mars. We couldn't leave witnesses behind…", he said coldly, facing Hazel.

"You… Don't ask me to understand you!", she shouted, letting go all her anger all of a sudden. For the first time, she faced him, without caring if she was crying or not. "I can't understand how you can't talk so freely about it! I can't understand how you could think in doing a monstrosity like that! And I'm not talking just for my parents: I'm talking for all those other innocent ones that perished with them. There were thousands of people in the leaving gates at the Spaceport with people who were going to travel on the Bonaparte and with their relatives or friends! You can't have an idea of all the lives that you had shattered with your stupid revenge! I have cried uncountable times for the loss of my parents, and I have seen children younger than me crying or staring shocked at what was left of their families. I can guarantee you, Mr. Shatner, that all the grief and pain that you caused to all those people, in which I'm included, can't be justified with your revenge", she said, ending in a soft tone of voice, almost like a whisper.

Ares lowered his head, ashamed. Alright, she was right, but there was no way in which she could listen to him. "Hazel, listen to me", he said, grabbing her from her shoulders. "I know that what I have done can't be mend in any way, and that you won't forget it for the rest of your life. I'm not asking you to forget it or to forgive me, just listen to what I have to say, please", he said, nervously.

She looked at him, sort of puzzled. It was as if she were in some sort of trance and didn't really understand what was happening.

"I know that I can't repair back all the damage I have done, but I wanted to pay it in a way, really", Ares went on, talking now much calmer, even if he was extremely nervous. "I played all that rebel guy act so I could avenge my parent's deaths, by killing Zephyrs and hurting a bit the Martian people, who never recognize that they may be wrong and always look for someone else to blame. I was too self-centered in my own revenge to think that I could damage anyone else. It's hard to hear it, but at that time I didn't give a damn about the others who were to fall in my plans, but it's true. At that moment I just thought of destroying Zephyrs, and nothing else", he said, making a short pause to stare at Hazel, who was still absent from herself, and seemed to mumble something under her breath. "Then, I just wanted to go on with that acting, so Cage would have to go to where I was. He had saved Myona before, and so… I was alone. I thought that there couldn't be a better idea than getting rid of the hideous weapon that the Marlblanke Dite was, with me on the area. In just one move, that strong Metatron cannon would have been gone, and I would have also disappeared with it, and so I would have paid for my actions…"

"And you survived…", Hazel mumbled, her eyes looking lost in the area.

"I can't understand why or how, but I did", he said, sighing. "I've never expected that to happen…"

"You survived… and no one from that flight, besides you three, could do it!", Hazel exclaimed, enraged. "You should have been the one killed!"

Ares grabbed her tightly. "Hazel, calm down!", he asked her, frightened that she would try to do something stupid like hurting herself… or him. "I know that! I keep on repeating that to myself each day of my life! I wanted to pay back all my mistakes with my death, but I couldn't!"

"Leave me alone!", Hazel shouted, struggling to get rid of him. "Don't touch me!"

"Hazel, please! I'm not asking you to forgive me or to understand me, but let me talk. Let me at least apologize to you!"

"Did you induced more people to get involve in your revenge, besides all the ones in BIS?", she asked, out of topic. Unlike some seconds before, she seemed calm and with her mind somewhere else, again.

"Why do you ask?", he asked, both puzzled and suspicious.

"Hadn't you asked me to let you talk? Then, talk about what I have just asked you", she said, calmly. "Don't you want to be sincere to me? I can't think in hearing your apologies if you still hide something from me"

"I was also the head of the Martian Rebels, so… Yes, more people died for the 'cause' I was leading at that time", he said, ashamed.

"You are a monster!", Hazel shouted, pushing him backwards brusquely and strongly, succeeding in getting rid of him. She walked some steps backwards quickly, and took some long breaths, agitated. "How can you talk so calm and natural about all those lives that you screwed up? How can you go on living knowing that you killed hundreds of people?", she asked him again, furiously.

"Hazel, I have already told you that I wanted to pay it all back with my death!", Ares yelled, fed up with her hysterical, capricious girl attitude. "I wanted to die at the same time that the Marlblanke Dite was destroyed by the UNSF missiles! I don't know why I survived!"

"Then, you should have committed suicide, if you really wanted to pay it back with your death!", the gray eyed girl shouted back. "I can't believe you when you say that you wanted to save the damage you did with your death, because you are still alive, while they are all dead! What's more, I can't find a good reason to find you alive… Is it that you don't have shame or love for yourself?"

Ares looked down, as he swallowed. He needed to think. He needed to find a good way to apologize to Hazel, without making her to shout even louder. At this rate, everyone at the Saoshyant had to know what was going on that room… He started walking to her, just because he felt like doing that. "Hazel…", he whispered, saddened.

"Don't touch me!", she shouted, whining. "Get out of my room right now! I don't want to listen to you anymore"

"Hazel, I know that I'm nothing but shit for you, but don't treat me like this", he pleaded her, weakly.

"Ha, don't make me laugh!", she said sarcastically. "You made me feel worse when I found myself all alone! So don't ask me to treat you sweetly and to be friends, as if nothing had ever happened!"

"You could at least try to understand why I have done all that!", he yelled at her, grabbing her from her arm this time.

"You can't ask me that!", she shouted at him, pushing him backwards, violently. She pushed him so hard that he ended up falling to the floor, as he lost his balance.

Ares looked down to both his left and right, as if he wanted to be fully sure that he fall down. Then, he looked up, finding Hazel staring at him sort of scared, instead of finding her laughing at him or angry. She just stayed there, without the slightest idea of helping him or doing something else.

Ares sighed, looking at himself, still on the ground. "Look, Hazel", he said, slowly. "I can't mend what I have done. I can't bring back your parents to life. If I could, I would do it, just to see you smile again, and to pay my fault", he said, while he started walking towards her, slowly. "If I could revive every person I have killed, with the exception of those that screwed up my life and that of all those other children at Zephyrs' labs, I would do it. Even if I hadn't ever known you. I regret what I did, but I can't undone it. I have to live with that, and I'm paying it every day of my life. And I'll feel it even more from now on, because now I'll remember it every time I'll see you. And you'll also revive that day every time you see me or hear my voice, even if I'm not talking to you. I wish I could avoid you that suffering, but I can't do it. And the worst is that I thought that I could find a friend in you, and now… that will never be", he said, darkly.

"Of course that will never happen", Hazel replied, her eyes lost in thought. "I'll see my parents diying every time I'll think about you. Wherever you'll be, my parents and all those other ones in that ship will be with you, over your shoulders, and on Myona's ones, also…"

"She did nothing, I'm the one to blame", Ares corrected her, painfully. "She could escape at the right moment, but she didn't know that at that moment. Cage got in her way and saved her…"

"Then, I just wished you had found someone else in your path before, too!", Hazel cried, not angrily anymore, but feeling pity and sorrow.

"I wish I had found someone… too", he admitted, looking down. He would have loved to meet someone who could have helped him, but he was also aware that he would have just ignored him or her, because he wanted no one to look after him, no one to tell him what to do or not. Just like the girl he had in front of him, looking at him with mixed expressions. He wanted to help her, because he recalled much of his own sadness in her. To realize that, he had to pass through all his previous acting, and even face Death itself, just to be 'returned' to the real life again. A small part of the livings that made him think different and to realize his own feelings, was the same event that ripped her life into little pieces… Now, he wanted to help her even more, but he knew that could never be.

Slowly, he got up, with his own strength, while she looked at him, but as there was nothing there. "Hazel", he said, talking seriously. "Your sorrow is still too big. Let the others help you, if you can't trust in me anymore"

Hazel chuckled, mockingly. "Trust in you? Trust in the others? Haha, nice joke. Thanks, but I would rather like to refuse your idea", she said, ironically. "If you wanted to be my friend, or if we already were friends, as you told me earlier today, back at the shopping mall, when were you thinking in telling me all this? Never, I guess", she said, offended.

"And what about you?", he asked back. "Every time I asked you about what was troubling you, you always evaded the topic"

"Because I didn't fell ready to talk about it to a stranger!", she shouted, irritated. "You, instead, had time to think about the 'presentation' of the topic!"

"As if it were too easy to talk about it!", he shouted back, angrily. "What do you expect of me? Do you think I should introduce myself like this: 'Hello, I'm Ares Enduwa, or Vale Shatner, or Subject #278. I was head of a resistance group in 2173, and I was the one who sank the Bonaparte III. I'm a real murderous bastard, as you may think, but it's a pleasure to meet you, nonetheless'?"

Hazel didn't reply at that, but looked at the wall, silently.

"Ignore me, if that's fine with you, but talk to the others, they'll surely help you", he told her, annoyed by her childish, spoiled brat attitude.

"Yeah, sure", she made fun of her statement, arrogantly. "No one warned me about you, or about themselves. I know nothing of no one. Why should I be the first one in trusting them? And why should I take your pieces of advice? You killed my parents, after all."

"It's obvious that you can't even play with the idea of trusting in me again, but at least, trust in the others", he told her, softer than before. "You can't cope with everything alone. Look how I ended up", he said, signaling himself.

"Don't tell me what to do or not!", she exclaimed, not looking at him. "Now, get the Hell out of here!"

Ares stared at her, and weakly, said, "I know I shouldn't say this at a time like this... but there's a chance that I haven't killed your parents"

Hazel's head rose quickly. "Who will you blame now? A ghost?"

"When the ship sank... many people was still alive, but after the UNSF got there, everyone was dead. One agent from an Earthian Task Force killed the remaining survivors..."

Hazel sighed. "Just what I thought... like your so despised Martians, you are looking for someone else to blame... Get out of my life for once and for all, if you have ever think well about me", she said, her voice as cold as ice.

Ares sighed, defeated. Slowly, he walked to the door and left the room, sort of slamming the door behind him.

A few seconds after he went out of the door, Hazel dropped her last things in her suitcase and closed it, before falling in the bed and starting crying again.

Mebius went into the main room, after leaving Lia in her room, taking a nap. Everyone was gathered there, trying to find a good explanation, or at least to find a way to talk to Hazel without being insulted from head to toe.

"And? Could you talk to her?", she asked Ares, who was deep sunken in one of the armchairs.

"Yeah, but it felt like being slapped with every word. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, not even to an enemy…", he said, taciturnly.

Myona sighed at that comment.

Ares looked at her, then buried himself in the armchair, again. "I shouldn't have said something like that. I've done worst things, I know", he said, tired of the adverse situation he was in.

"We can't change what we have done, brother", Myona said saddened, feeling guilty by the situation.

"You did nothing. I'm the responsible of all that", Ares corrected her, looking at the ceiling.

"But I was part of the plan and I helped you"

"Yes, but you did nothing. I did all the work, so I'm the one to blame"

"Stop quarrelling, she's coming!", Cynthia exclaimed, returning from her 'post' at the corridor. Since Ares went out of her cousin's room, she decided to stay in the corridor, to see if Hazel needed anything. She started to grow even more worried, as her cousin was still inside, and now that she was leaving her room, Cynthia felt as if her own soul returned to her body.

Everyone turned silent. Everything was so quiet, that the only thing that they could hear were Hazel's footsteps, and the sound of her suitcase rolling along the corridor. It was so silent, that Hazel looked astonished when she reached the main room, with her suitcase behind.

"What's wrong with you? Have you all lost your tongue?", she asked, harshly.

"At all", Yukito replied, smiling. "It's just that we don't know what to say"

"Then, say nothing. It's the best thing you can all do. Not that you have much to explain", Hazel went on, rudely.

"Hazel… we are sorry", Robin started apologizing, but was interrupted by Hazel.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your acting for yourself. I have to leave soon, okay? Don't make me waste my precious time", the light blue haired girl said, while staring at her watch impatiently.

"We still have the right to talk to you…", Mebius began, annoyed.

"Keep it for yourself, because I'm leaving this fucking place", she replied, annoyed. "I have nothing left here, and nothing ties me to this place, so I'm free to leave", she said, staring at them defiantly. Looking at Cynthia, who was looking both puzzled and saddened, she said, "Ready, Cynthia?"

"Aye, I'm ready to leave", the brown haired student replied, softly.

"Then, let's go", Hazel told her, impatiently again. "And to all of you, have a nice life, and remember to not screw up other people's lives, as much as you can".

"Just one thing, Hazel", Twede stopped her, waving some papers in his hand.

"What the Hell do you want?", the gray eyed girl asked him, angrily.

"Have you been working at those Labs under the name of Hazel Arowny?", the black clad man asked her, reading at his papers.

Hazel sighed, bitterly. "Yes… Arowny was my mother's surname, and Hazel… well, my name is the only thing they left me"

After she said that, she began walking to the exit, with Cynthia following her, low-headed. She stopped brusquely in her way, and turned back a little, the necessary to speak and to be heard by the BIS people. "Mebius… please don't put Lia in a frame. Don't make her loose her innocence"

"I'll consider that. Thanks", Mebius replied, touched.

Having heard that, Hazel went on walking, and soon, the two cousins were out of the Saoshyant. The BIS members all looked at Ares, who just shrugged, and asked them, harshly, "What? Do you expect me to go after her?"

"Well… that wouldn't hurt", Cage told him, shrugging.

"Forget it", Ares said, sighing. "She doesn't want to see me, not even in a blurred postcard… Besides, I screwed up her life, and my whole self is stained with other people, mostly innocent, blood. She doesn't deserve my words, as she deserves more", he added, his voice struggling to hide the fact that he was feeling really down… at the verge of crying.

The rest of BIS didn't say anything, and looked to another point, leaving him at ease…

* * *

Well, Hazel's past is uncovered, at last. I would really like if you could review this last two chapters, as I want to see how capable I was to portray the drama in her. So, please, give me the most detailed review you can.

"I won't dignify that with an answer" is a line from the "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" movie. It's a normal line, but the fact that Ethan is making fun of the way in which the character of Mark Darcy says it is too funny for Ruth, who likes that movies (what a coincidence. I love those movies, too :P). For those of you who have no idea of what I'm talking about, Mr. Darcy is a very serious, formal yet prominent Human Rights attorney, and he's basically the opposite of Bridget, who's quite messy, and speaks when she shouldn't, saying what she shouldn't say. I couldn't help but putting this silly inside joke. Besides, Ethan and Ruth had to take some fresh air in that scene and cheer each other up, just to get depressive again.


	16. Regrets

Chapter 16: "Regrets/Black wind"

The long, black haired young woman started walking along the long, vast corridor, after the automatic doors of the elevator opened by themselves. She walked slowly, moving her hips nicely as she walked, while waving at some of her co-workers, or smiled at them. She passed her hand through her natural black hair, as it blowed gently in the air. Even if it was a bit umcomfortable to use her hair loose, she didn't care, because she felt extremely well that day. She went on walking, looking at her reflection in a mirrowed glass. She smiled at that, because, again, she was feeling pretty. There was no reason for her to feel like that, she just felt it. She thought that the Spaceport uniform looked better on her now, for some unknown reason. She was feeling like a TV actress, during the filming of a shampoo commercial. Maybe those three days she was out of the city made her well, even if it was for "business" reasons.

She felt free, nice, happy. There wasn't a particular reason to feel that way. Nobody proposed marriage to her, she hadn't been promoted, nothing extraordinary had happened to her. Maybe the fact that she didn't have anything to worry made her feel so happy. She told herself to stop questioning herself, as she didn't know how much her joy would last.

She went on walking, naturally. It was a good day at the Spaceport. It wasn't neither so busy nor empty, and so, it was a great balance, a good atmosphere to work well.

She went into another room, where her work place was. Suddenly, her blood froze, and realized that her joy had just disappeared, maybe for a long time.

Right there, next to her desk, a light blue haired girl was sitting, introducing things quickly in a computer. She couldn't see her well, but she was almost sure about who was her new work-mate.

Right then, she covered part of her face with a hand, as she tried to walk past those desks quickly, trying to pass unnoticed. She did it, but soon the light blue haired girl called her...

"Arantxa... is that you?", the girl said, both softly and suspiciously.

The black haired young woman closed her eyes wide shut, as she stop walking brusquely. There was no way to escape from her former co-worker...

She turned back, smiling awkwardly. She stared at the new girl a little, before talking. "Oh, my... Aren't you Hazel?", she asked, trying to sound confused.

"You already knew it was me, or else you wouldn't have walked so quickly, covering your face", Hazel told her, annoyed. Her expression was a mix of sadness and annoyance, and the latter one was more defined in her gestures. "Now, why are you running away from me, lately?"

Arantxa looked up, thoughtfully. "What do you mean by 'lately'?", she asked, puzzled. "I haven't seen you since... well, that day".

"I may have the face, but I'm not that stupid!", Hazel exclaimed, getting more annoyed as the minutes went by. "You know I was looking for you after the Labs incident... and I almost found you, but then you started running and managed to disappear!"

"Lower your voice, for God's sake!", the black haired youth told her coldly, while looking at both sides and making sure that no one was paying particular attention to them. She passed her hands through her hair, and sighed, worried. "We can't talk about all that here. Look, we can have lunch together, at the cafeteria. There, I'll explain you whatever you want to know. But not here. Understood?"

Hazel nodded, feeling a little satisfied with her answer.

"Do you know where the cafeteria is?", Arantxa asked her, now talking calmer.

"I guess. If I get lost, I know that someone will tell me the right path"

"Alright. So, see you there", Arantxa said, picking her things from the desk next to Hazel's.

"Wait, what are you doing?", Hazel asked her, puzzled. "Aren't you suppossed to sit there?", she asked, pointing to the desk next to hers.

Arantxa blinked twice and looked at Hazel puzzled. "No, I don't think so", she replied, thoughtfully. "Who told you that?"

"Well, no one. But as it was empty, and you seem to be the last one to get here, and now you pick your things..."

The black haired girl laughed. "Well... to be sincere, sometimes that's my desk, sometimes not. And today isn't", she explain, giggling. "I'm a wandering soul, who moves as the wind tells her to move, and right now, I feel the breezes calling...", she said, walking to the other door, looking up to the ceiling, as she talked like reciting a poem, but with so much bad luck, that she bumped into a workmate. After apologizing, she went on walking, and then she was gone.

Hazel followed her with her sight, puzzled. "I wish I could go through life doing the same nonsense things she does", she thought for herself, while typing quickly and mechanically in her computer, returning back to work.

* * *

Ares threw himself in a sofa, letting go a deep sigh as he fall. He didn't cared about how much time had passed since Hazel had left in such conditions; for him, everything was like the first day. 

He couldn't help feeling miserable and guilty, even when he couldn't undone what he had already done long ago. He knew he didn't feel anything important towards Hazel -or was he lying to himself? Alright, he felt something close to an attraction, maybe because he felt identified with her, and now he could tell why; funnily enough, he would never have the chance to help her again, even if the miracle happened and she returned, because he knew that she would prefer anything but talking to him-, but he really cared for her, and wanted to see that nervous, always-at-the-defensive girl, walking along the Saoshyant corridor's and apologizing for having interrupted him, if she had done it.

He never thought that he would ever come in contact with one of his victims -because Hazel was one, even if she wasn't in that damned Spaceship, as she turned into one of the most victimized ones in that event. Ares sighed, closing his eyes strongly, as if he could revert things back to normal with that. He had never thought in all those people that he had hurt indirectly. He never considered the ones he had murdered in the Bonaparte III, until he decided to explode with the Marlblanke Dite, as a sign in which he would ask for forgiveness in an indirect way. That day, with Hazel's confession and outburst, he came to know another dimension of the hideous thing he had done. How many families had he destroyed? How many children had he killed? How many Hazel's -female or male- existed now, in any point of the Universe? He didn't know. How quaint, he ended up doing the same that Zephyrs did with him: he killed people, in the name of an insane revenge, that would only worry Zephyrs for a few moments, before turning to another businesses; he left uncountable children without their families, just like him. He wanted to justify himself, but his reasons fall like leaves in autumn. And every reason drove him to Hazel's confused, terrified or angry face...

He heard footsteps coming, and closed his hand tightly, imprisoning an object that he had forgotten he had with him. Now, the poor plastic duck must have lost its original shape...

The footsteps were now closer, and Cage appeared from the corridor. He took a look at Ares, and so he walked to the table and sat down over it, facing Ares. "You are still thiking about that, aren't you?"

There was no need of Ares to answer that question, his only appearance was enough to reply.

"I see...", Cage said, thoughtfully. It was a difficult thing to talk about, what Ares had done. No, not Ares. It was Vale, not Ares, the one who sank the Bonaparte. But still, they were the same person. Cage couldn't accept or rest importance to what he had done, but he wanted to say something good to his friend. It was a sticky matter, because, again, he couldn't accept his actions, just to comfort him. Anyway, he had to say something. "Look, Ares", he told his friend, talking seriously. "I can't tell you that you aren't guilty, nor that I accept it. But it's already done. You had already sunk that ship, with such bad luck that you fall for a girl whose parents were there..."

"Stop there", Ares said energically. "Who the Hell told you that I felt something for her?"

Cage rose an eyebrow, mockingly. "She was the closest thing to a 'girl friend' that you ever had, at least since I know you. You have never developed such a relationship with any of the girls here, not even with Cynthia, so... But anyway, let's say that you don't feel anything for her... then, why do you feel so guilty? She has left like a week ago, and you are like a figure of what you once were"

Ares chuckled, letting his friend know that he was going to introduce an irony. "I've been a ghost of what I was once for a long time, much longer since when you met me... Anyway, the thing is that I have never considered -or if I did, I lied myself really well- all that people in the ship. I have never thought if they had family or not, if I was going to do the same thing that Zephyrs did to me. Now, when I think of Hazel, I think in that ship. If I think in the ship, I think in Hazel. If I don't think about them, but I think in myself, my thoughts go directly to them, and so, Hazel and all those others are in my mind almost everytime. Do you understand now?", he asked Cage, waiting patiently for an answer.

Cage just sighed, trying to find a good answer and a piece of advise for his friend. "What did Myona tell you about this?", he asked, just to ask something and think about the problem.

"Haven't you talked to her about this?", Ares asked him, incredulously.

"Yeah, but maybe she told you something more", the blue haired boy replied, sort of nervously.

"She told me not to make a big fuss about this. What we had done can't be undone, so... I'm just wasting my time with this", Ares admitted, throwing the plastic duck against the table, angrily. "I guess I should try to either forget about this, or repar what I have done from once and for all"

"How? Blowing your head again with a shot?", Myona came in, annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop thinking in all that? Don't you realize that we can't do anything for them, that our deaths won't bring them back nor will satisfy the relatives of our victims, because what we had done can't be undone by any means? We can apologize tons and tons of times, and it will never be enough! So Ares, please, stop complaining about this, because every time you talk about it, I feel more and more guilty...", the purple haired girl pleaded, talking energically first, then her speech turned into a sobbing plead.

Cage went to his girlfriend's side, and hugged her lovingly, as she released her long contained cry on his shoulder. Ares, feeling even more guilty for having made his sister cry, looked at the ceiling, wondering if there were more regrets to come.

"Myona, your situation is different from mine. I have told you that several times. You didn't sunk the ship, I did. You weren't as filled with hate towards martians as I was. You regretted what we were doing every second, I didn't. You saw the truth in the situation we were in, you understood from the very beggining that what we were doing was wrong. I didn't. And if I did, I lied myself too well and went on believing my own version, so I wouldn't discredit what we believed and thought, and so I could take revenge upon our parents. You didn't lost your humanity, as I almost did...", the light haired boy said, bowing his head with his last words, evading his sister and his friend's gaze.

"It's not like that!", Myona yelled, even more depressed after listening to her brother's hidden thoughts on himself. "I'm not like that! I'm also to blame, because I couldn't stop you! I couldn't drive your attention from Jimmer's words, and so I failed in saving you! And as I couldn't stop you before doing anything that we might have regretted later, I decided to follow you, wherever you were going. If you were to go to the doors of Hell itself, I would have gone with you, just to support you, in return of the uncountable times that you saved me in our hardships at Zephyrs' place. I'm no less guilty than you, because I couldn't stop you!"

Ares chuckled ironically, covering his eyes with one hand, so no one could see him sobbing. "But you run into Cage, and then you saved him, and saved yourself! I wouldn't have done that, because my revenge was first!"

"I was amnesiac at that moment!", Myona yelled, over Cage's shoulder. "I didn't know what I was to do at that moment..."

"Even amnesiac, you acted according to your own nice, caring nature...", her brother told her, sighing bitterly. "I'm not like that. I'm more of a passion or hate-ridden person"

"Ares, you are being too tough on yourself", Cage said, finally getting into the conversation.

Right after that, all of them became silent, with the few exceptions of random sobs.

"How quaint...", Ares said, breaking the silent, icy atmosphere. "I wonder how our parents would have reacted with my actions, if they were alive. Considering that I did the same that Zephyrs did to us... they wouldn't really approve it, would they?", he asked, shyly.

Myona left from Cage's arms and run to her brother's side, hugging themselves and crying openly under Cage's concerned and pityful look.

* * *

"Hi there!", Arantxa said loudly right next to Hazel's right ear, making her drop her suggar bag on the hot coffee. "Looks like I surprised you", she giggled, sitting in front of her, under Hazel's slightly angry look. 

"Quite funny", the light blue haired girl replied, cleaning the drops of hot coffee off her hand. "I truly envy this part of your personality: you first ignore me and then you come and chat with me as if nothing had ever happened"

"You say it for this morning issue?", the black haired youth asked, looking eagerly at the menu, studying what she was going to ask for. "I didn't see you first, and then I couldn't believe it was you. I thought you were..."

"Dead?", Hazel interrupted her, coldly. "Or being held captive only God knows where?"

Arantxa dropped the menu, surprised in the change of attitude in the once quiet, silent Administrative worker at the Corindon Labs. It was nice to see a change in the most likely sumise girl, but... it was also strange. However, Arantxa knew that she didn't have to show Hazel that she was surprised, or even worse, feeling intimidated. So, she smiled lightly, and playing with Hazel's spoon, making circles over the table with it, she said, "Looks like so much water has passed down the river... It's a long story... but, tell me first, how did you leave the Labs? What did you do after that?"

Hazel let go a fake laugh. "And you ask about it... I run after you for six blocks, then you disappeared. After that, I went on with my life, with some messy additments..."

"Then, start telling me about those little extra additments", Arantxa asked, looking mischeviously at Hazel.

"Why should I start?", Hazel protested, after having a sip from her coffee. "You have more to explain than what I do. Besides, it's a long story...", she said, her voice loosing strenght.

"So, start right now!", the black haired young woman demanded, opening her sacharine bag. "I have the entire lunchitime to listen. I'll tell you my side of the story just after you finish."

"But is it safe here?", Hazel asked, shyly.

Arantxa looked around, just finding a few people around their table, and a couple right behind their table. "Of course it is. Those two behind us aren't listening to us, _per se_"

"Alright... guess that you win", Hazel sighed, before starting telling her story from the very beggining.

* * *

Ethan walked through one of that BAHRAM's base corridors, thinking what to do next. In the last days, everything was slightly different. His sister, Ruth, seemed lost and confused, and tried to avoid any contact with the human world, especially with Marrek. "Seems that finally seeing the already known truth shocked her", he thought, recalling her shocked face at Presea's comments about her "activities" with Marrek, and the latter confirmation, when some "noises" could be heard from the outside. 

Another one that avoided either human or Metatron contact was Mikenne. Since she played that record -for some unknown reason for Ethan, as he never thought that she could do something like that at her own will-, she was even more lost than before. Sometimes, she used to stay hours with her Ifrit, just sitting in the cockpit and looking at it, but now she didn't even want that. She just locked herself in her room, and barely got out, mainly to go out to find some food for her.

Only Marrek was the normal one, caring about no one but himself. And it seemed that the hit that Ethan gave him just made him an even greater jerk than what he was. With the excuse that he was still suffering the consequences of that hit, he just doze off, and spent his time with Presea, leaving the first aid room abandoned.

And what about him, the light brown haired guy that was now walking aimlessly through a former abandoned factory complex? He couldn't understand how Mikenne could have done a thing like that, like playing a record that she already knew that could damage people. Wait a second, maybe she didn't know what was recorded there... The only way to find out that was asking her. And so, he went straight to Mikenne's room, ready to even beg if it was necesary to see her.

Ethan was making his way to the red-haired girl's room, when he came by with his sister, who was walking from the small "cafeteria" they had. At least, it seemed that way, because she was eating a yogurth with cereal flakes as she walked. However, she didn't noticed him, as she was about to walk next to him without saying anything. Besides, Ethan knew when his sister was "in trance"; otherwise, he couldn't explain the attraction that a yogurth could make in a person.

"Hey, are you drowning your pains with the food?", Ethan joked, calling Ruth's attention.

Ruth giggled, even if she seemed depressed. "At least is better than falling into the alcohol for the same reason"

"Certainly. Especially if you start eating diet meals", he said, pointing at the yogurth.

Ruth laughed, embracing his brother. "I was needing some of this...", she said, thoughtfully.

"What? You needed a hug or a yogurth?", the light brown haried boy asked, intentionaly.

"A hug, idiot!", Ruth nagged him, kissing him on the cheek.

"Well, you won't get any if you stay locked in your room", Ethan said, embracing her. "Hey, come with me! I'm going to annoy Mikkene for a little while", he offered Ruth, joking.

"Thanks, but I'll decline", the blonde woman said, eating some more of her yogurth. "I don't like her"

"Hey, come on!", Ethan insisted. "Let's go and become a nuisance. It's too quiet in here... Besides, maybe she needs a hug, too"

"Then, go alone. Don't count me in for things like that, especially when I don't like the gal", Ruth said, staring at the metal spoon. "Besides, I'm not much of a comforting person, especially..."  
"...When I don't like the gal", Ethan completed her phrase, irritating her. "Leave that stupid rivalry aside. If it's for Marrek, then your new enemy is Presea. She spends HOURS in his room, with him, of course"

"You shouldn't have said that. I don't suck my thumb anymore", Ruth complained, hitting him in his arm.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry", the light brown haired youth apologized, whining fakingly. "Hell, you sure hit hard"

"And you sure are a crybaby", Ruth told her, still annoyed.

"But at least I don't held a stupid rivalry for a pant's issue", Ethan mocked her, rubbing his hurt arm.

"It wasn't just because of that!", Ruth cried, punching the wall to let go part of her rage. "Alright, I liked Marrek at that time, and when she came, he stopped noticing me, alright, I'll admit that part. But she always took what was mine! First, she took my place in that squad, relegating me to a secondary position; then, Marrek started chasing her, and I became nothing; and then... you also started paying more attention to her, and all that, with that silent, despective attitude of hers, as if she weren't responsible of anything and things came straightly to her!", she cried, even more angrily. Just after she shut up, she noticed that she shouldn't have said a few things that she did...

Ethan looked at his twin with a mix of pity and proud. Pity, because she was right in one thing: she was the spoiled child of that mentioned squad, being the only girl at the base with a considerable skill, until Mikenne came. And he was proud of her because... well, which brother wouldn't feel proud of a sister that missed him? They have always been that close, and he was thankful that it had been that way. However, things change when Ruth joined BAHRAM, and nothing was the same as before, even if he joined right after her, just to take care of his reckless sister. Now, hearing at those words from Ruth, he couldn't help but feeling prouder of her and loving her more...

"So am I one of the reasons why you dislike Mikenne that much?", he asked Ruth with a breaky voice. He wanted to hug her a lot for that...

"I hadn't said that!", Ruth exclaimed, blushing. "Well... I did, in some way... but you aren't the primary reason, honey!", she said, blocking herself with her arms, but she couldn't evade Ethan, who hugged her in a "bear hug". She kept on pushing him backwards, but he didn't go anywhere else, but stayed there, "torturing" her a little more with that hug.

"Ejemm...", someone coughed behind them, making Ethan released his sister from the endless hug, much to her happyness. Ethan turned back and stood next to his sister, while Marrek, the one who coughed, waited for them to switch places and Mikenne, who was walking along the corridor, to join them. "Never thought that you two were quite fond of each other", the green haired leader joked, as Mikenne arrived.

"I thought you never thought anything", Ethan said, staring at the ceiling.

Marrek smiled lightly, but didn't said anything in his behalf. "We have work to do", he said, finally.

"What? You want us to blow up some hospital, or the government house? Or you want us to get us cigarettes because you are too busy to do it yourself?", Ethan counterattacked, enjoying himself.

"I agree with him", Mikenne said, her voice full of regret.

Ruth, on the other hand, didn't said anything, and ate the last spoon of her yogurth.

"I see you all have a bad concept of your beloved boss", Marrek joked, not touched at all by his subordinates reactions. "However, I don't care in the slightest. Look, you have to go to the northern hangar and pick more Metatron. We are running short of it. Oh, and look out for a certain rebel group. I wouldn't like to fall on the hands of a pop-industry rebel group", he said, concerned about the last part.

"Pop-industry?", Ethan rose an eyebrow, annoyed. "You want us to kidnap a girl-band for you? I thought you had enough with Presea..."

"And you just want us to pick some Metatron? We are frame runners, not delivery guys!", Ruth complained, annoyed. For the first time in a long time, she decided to rebel.

Ethan looked at her proudly, and kissed her on the head, as he said, "This is my sister! I knew you were still alive!"

Mikenne looked down, while Ruth looked embarrased for her twin's behavior.

"Jealousy. Only the not capable feel it. Of course, it isn't my case", Marrek said, looking down at Ethan, who burst into a mocking laughter. "Whatever, just get into your frames and leave. I'll give you the details on your way"

"And what if we decline?", Mikenne asked, sharply.

For a moment, the entire room froze. Both Ethan and Ruth stared at Mikenne puzzled, as it was the first time she dared to rebel, something strange in her, as she always followed orders without questioning anything. Marrek also stared at her, but started laughing at the defiantly looking young woman.

"Look what we have here. I thought you just cared about yourself and nothing else. Oh, yes, about your frame, too", Marrek began, mischievously. "Seems that your old friends awoke this well hidden rebel spirit of yours... Looks like I'll have to call some reinforcements to deal with you three...", he went on saying, entertained.

Mikenne kept looking down, now ashamed.

"What I thought. You won't open your mouth again", Marrek said, enjoying the situation. "Anyone has anything else to say? No? Great, then. Now, move your butts out from here and do what I told you!", he ordered, now in haste.

The three runners turned back and left, without saying a single word.

* * *

"And so, you fell in love with the one that killed your parents?", Arantxa asked, eating a cookie. 

"I already told you that I didn't fell in love with him!", Hazel protested, annoyed.

"Then, don't react like that", Arantxa simply replied, smiling. "Alright, it was a joke", she corrected herself, as she noticed that Hazel wasn't enjoying the joke at all. For the second time in a day, she felt frightened by Hazel's attitude. It wasn't just shyness or silence, things that were common in the light blue haired girl, but there was also rage and hints of hate in her eyes... Now that she knew Hazel's story, she could explain that look, but it still frightened. "A person who has lost everything can easily become the most dangerous thing in the world", Arantxa thought, sipping her coffee.

"Well, I've told you every single thing that hapenned to me, now tell me why you run away from me, and what had those guys to do with the Labs", Hazel demanded, seriously.

"I think it would be better if we leave it for another day... You have been bringing to the surface many sad feelings... You don't need more things to worry about", Arantxa said calmly, with her eyes closed.

"I won't wait anymore!", Hazel shouted angrily, stomping her hand over the table as she stood up.

Arantxa opened her eyes widely, frightened. The light blue haired girl was shacking in front of her, overhelmed by her nervous state. The black haired woman also noticed that some people from the tables around them were looking at them strangely, and some looked eager to know what was happening with them. Quickly, Arantxa stood up and embraced Hazel, while she dropped some money on the table, the exact amount of what they had asked. Picking their things, and still embracing Hazel, she guided her outside of the cafeteria. "She just has a bad day! Hadn't you ever had one of those?", she shouted to the curious ones, as they left.

Hazel, on the other side, was in an absent state. She just followed Arantxa's steps, without thinking in anything or in anyone else.  
After a few minutes, they got into a room, which ended up being the bathroom.

"Look where we have to be to talk at ease!", the black haired woman said, half annoyed, half funnily, as she checked that they were alone. Confirmed that fact, she went to the door and locked it.

"How it is that you have the bathroom's key?", Hazel asked, puzzled.

"Great, I thought you had lost your talking", Arantxa said mockingly, while leaving the key in one of her suit's pockets. "I respond for part of this sector, so the bathroom is under my jurisdiction", she said, before laughing.

Hazel didn't know if she could believe her or not.

"Well... I guess it's time for you to know what was behind innocent 'Corindon Labs'", Arantxa said, ironically as she finished the sentence, as she laid against the wall. "First, promise me that you won't get nervous like a few minutes ago. There's not much to be ashamed of, but I want to be sure you won't start screaming or attacking me"

"If I have to, I'll promise you that and whatever else you want me to, but talk, for God's sake!", Hazel implored, anxiously.

"Alright, there I go", Arantxa said, sighing. "Well... Corindon Labs started as a family business, with the goal of producing items for spaceships and LEVs, and all those things. Things started to change with the Deimos incident, when BAHRAM's activity became public for everyone who wasn't aware, so..."

"I already know that part of recent history!", Hazel protested, irritated. "Can you get to the point?"

"Corindon Labs was working for Earth's military, supplying them with Metatron weapons and developing orbital frames for them", Arantxa said, seriously.

Hazel looked at her oddly, as if she couldn't understand what she had just heard.

"Can you see why I was going slowly at the begining?", the black haired girl asked, sighing. "Isn't it shocking to learn that the once peaceful Labs one was working at were a military supply for the Earthling side... nifty, ain't it?", she added, ironically.

"How... how could that be?", Hazel asked, mumbling. "I should have seen something strange if it was like that... I mean, I went from one place to the other in that building... I can be so stupid to miss THAT", she went on ranting, nervously.

"Hey, don't blame yourself, or start thinking that you are an idiot who doesn't guess anything", Arantxa stopped her, reading Hazel's mind. "You were confined to the administrative sector, after all"

"But I kept going from a place to the other..."

"But the real factory was in another location. I mean, where they produced the Metraton involved things that weren't LEVS, because the "normal" factory was in your building. And you just worked with the non-suspicious data. Or maybe you worked with the real bills and stuff, but with the names changed, so it wouldn't be dangerous. After all, who would be that stupid to detail every single item when they were smuggling things or working for who they shouldn't work?", the black haired girl said, trying to calm Hazel down.

"Everyone knew it except me, uh?", the gray eyed girl asked, looking down at the sink, trying to hide the shame she felt for always being the last one to know everything.

Arantxa didn't replied.

"So that's why they gave me the job, uh?", Hazel went on asking. "After all, I was the only accepted for it"

"Stop there", Arantxa said, energically. "Is it just me, or your mind is already guessing a movie that doesn't exist? They hired you because they needed someone who could do the administrative work. You know, some accountancy things, inventaries, things like that. Nothing else. And there was just one place, not any more. Then, the factory's responsibles took advantage of the fact that you didn't know a thing when BAHRAM attacked..."

"And so, they decided to lock me in some room while they escaped, so BAHRAM wouldn't get any vital info about their activities. Only that they would kill me at the end, as I wouldn't have been able to say a thing", Hazel interrupted her co-worker, annoyed. "Don't expect me to thank you"

"Of course not. I wasn't fond of the idea", the other girl replied, naturally. "But you weren't the only one who didn't know the truth..."

"Oh, and I must feel happy for that", Hazel replied ironically. "Then, why was I the only one who couldn't escape? Why hadn't they locked someone else?", she asked, irritated.

"Good question. I really don't know", Arantxa admitted, puzzling Hazel a bit more. "The owners were quite weird, if you ask me. But the payment was good, so I wouldn't mind working there 'til my death"

Hazel rolled her eyes, annoyed. "And now, how do you know so many things?", she asked, suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

"What are you intending to say?", Arantxa protested, walking menacingly towards Hazel, but the light blue haired girl stood were she was, looking defiantly at the newcomer, when she would have lowered her head a ew weeks ago. The black haired young woman noticed that, but didn't change her attitude.

"What you heard!", Hazel replied back, her mood changing drastically for the bad. "You had something to do with them! Were you part of the Director's Board, or what? You know far too much..."

"I wished I could be part of the Board! I wouldn't need to work any more in all my life!", the other girl replied, laughing. "Thanks for that, but no, I wasn't part of the Director's Board, thank you. I... I was helping someone there, and that someone gave me the information. Nothing else. I wasn't Fatty-Ed's lover, if you wondered that", she added mischeviously, making reference to a former boss both of them had.

"God, I hadn't thought you would have THAT bad taste", Hazel replied, feeling a little ill at the only representation of her bald, fat, unkind and something brute former boss in underpants, and Arantxa -or any woman, for the case- waiting for him in the bed.

"Haha, seems you got the image", Arantxa laughed at Hazel's scandalized face, funnily.

"Argh, you are mean!", Hazel said, now feeling a little better. But that joke wasn't enough to drive off her attention. "Now, tell me, why did you run when you saw me?", she asked again, seriously

"You won't stop until I vomit all the data, will you", Arantxa asked, smiling. "Ok, I avoided you because I wanted to gather data about the Labs' main scientists, who were reported missing after we could escape from BAHRAM's attack. And, honestly, I thought they had killed you"

"Missing? What happened to them, if they could escape?", Hazel asked, surprised.

"We don't know. Maybe BAHRAM got their personal data from another source, or they could get it from the very Labs later, but the thing is that those scientists were kidnapped. Their wereabouts remain unknown... as if Mars swallowed them"

"Still you haven't answered me why you ignored me that day", Hazel insisted, ignoring the other topic.

"Alright, first, I thought you were death. Then, I was doing my own parallel research about the researchers wereabouts, and I didn't want to involve anyone... and again, I thought you were death, gal!", Arantxa said, tired of that question. "There's no other reason to that subject, 'kay?"

"Okay", Hazel replied, tired. "Well... it's obvious that BAHRAM kidnapped the researchers, ain't it?", she asked then, shyly. "I hope they haven't killed them yet..."

Arantxa smiled, touched by Hazel's sensitive spirit. "It's odd... they wouldn't have hesitated to sacrifice you, in a way, to save their butts, and you, on the other hand, wonder about them, if they are still breathing or not... It's odd, I repeat it", she said, staring at her sort of amazed. "If I were you, I would be wishing them a painful, complicated death. No one hands me over to the enemy and lives to tell the tale"

Hazel tried to smile, but a strange line, instead of a smile, drew on her face. "I was rescued, so that makes things different, but now I wonder if it hadn't been better to be captured by the 'bad guys', considering how things turned out", Hazel said, thoughfully. "At least, I would have died knowing less than what I do now. Enough to be considered a good death..."

Arantxa blinked, surprised. "Are you saying that it's better to be ignorant rather than knowing the truth? Do you really think that? Did you want to die without really knowing who killed your parents and why, for example?"

Hazel thought for a second, before answering. "At that moment, no, I really wanted to know who did it and why. But there are things that one shouldn't know, for some reason", she said, sadened.

"Uh-oops... Guess we are having a dramatic moment", Arantxa said, trying to sound funny, yet worried, as she noticed that Hazel was giving into despair, as her "mighty, strong girl" attitude was crumbling in the last few seconds.

"I just want to return to the times when I was happy, and all this wasn't even in my worst nightmares...", the light blue haired youth sobbed, as her gray eyes began to get filled with tears, and some started to fall...

Arantxa just hugged the crying girl, telling her that it would all pass, and that better times would came, without a doubt...

* * *

Cynthia came into the Saoshyant, feeling like a burglar who sneaks in a house for the first time. She had left her school in a rush, because she wanted to see how things in BIS were going, and because Hazel was torturing her, asking her to get a few things she had left on the strolling base. She would have done it before, if she had had the time, but her school obligations surpassed her, as her exam time came right by the time Hazel left BIS. 

The brown haired student started walking carefully, trying not to make much fuss. She couldn't fully understand why she was so nervous, well, partly she could, as she just vanished with Hazel. She would have come, if school hadn't been in the middle, that is.

"Hey, Cynthia, what are you doing here?", Yukito asked, coming out from one of the rooms.

The young student stopped her walking, frozen. She felt embarrassed, being caught 'in fraganti', but she wasn't doing anything wrong. Feeling her cheeks already red, she turned back, smiling nervously. "Hi, there", she just said, waving stupidly at the green haired guy.

Yukito looked at her over his glasses, awkwardly. "Are you feeling well?", he asked, puzzled.

"Ah... yes, I think so", the brown haired student said, confused.

"Hey, what happened that you just vanished from here?", he asked, funnily.

"Well... exams came", Cynthia said, feeling a little relieved. "I hadn't much time for anything else but studying, and I couldn't do much with Hazel's problems on my head, so... I don't think I had done well. Now that I mention it, is Russia the capital city of Zaire? Or was the other way round?", she asked, confused. However, she didn't gave him time to answer, as she went on. "No, wait, it was the other way round... No, it wasn't like that! Both of them are countries, not cities! Argh, I'm doomed!", she started screaming, terrified. "Stupid me! Now I don't even want to thnk how I did in the rest of the exam...", she added, whining.

Yukito raised an eyebrow. "But aren't you living in Mars? Those are countries from Earth..."

"I already know that, but looks like my Geography teacher doesn't know it, still", Cynthia said ironically, trying not to worry about her terrible exam.

"That sucks", Yukito said, seriously.

"What, the matter taht I'm teached according the Earth's educational programme, or school?", the brown haired girl asked funnily.

"Both", Yukito said, grinning.

"Hey, if I knew Cynthia was here", Razma exclaimed, coming in with Semyl and Myona behind them.

"Oh... how did you know I was here?", Cynthia asked, touched.

"Er... guess it's an ability I have", the red haired guy said, superiosly.

"Don't lie. You said that her shouts could be easily told, even in a shopping mall", Semyl said, looking at Razma by the corner of her eye.

"Arghh! I hadn't said that", Razma tried to defend himself, with little success.

"Alright, it's okay", Cynthia said, slightly annoyed. "At least, I have something unique"

"But look which skill", Yukito joked, earning him a glare from Cynthia.

Myona, while everyone was joking, remained silent, lost in her thoughts. When everyone became silent, she asked, quickly, "Cynthia, how's Hazel doing?"

Cynthia sighed, tired. "Well... she says she's ok, but I know she isn't. It's obvious. Right now I have come to pick some of the things she forgot here on the rush. Maybe you can help me to gather them while we talk. I don't have much time. The spaceport is quite a way far from here, and I have to be early at home", she explained, naturally.

"Did you say spaceport?", Yukito asked, interested. "Is she leaving today or what?"

Cynthia took a deep breath before answering. "Seems I talked too much again, doesn't it?", she asked, smiling lightly. "She's not leaving, she works there now. She asked me to send her her things there, but I prefer to go personally. I don't trust too much on the mail service"

"What an untrusty person", Yukito said, before leaving.

"Where're ya' going so fast?", Semyl asked, friendly. "Already got tired of us?"

Yukito grinned. "You read my mind", he joked. "Not at all. I have to see my father. He still thinks he can convince me of getting into the family business"

"And what are you going to do?", Razma asked, curious.

"Just hear him, I guess. I have no plans of wearing suits and reading financial newspapers and all that", the green haired young man said, shrugging. "I hope not to get asleep"

"Good luck, then", Razma said. "Don't forget to take a pillow"

"Thanks", the other guy said, already walking to the exit.

* * *

"Next!", Hazel yelled, after the client she was attending left. She kept on typing on her computer, looking at the screen, in her new post in the client attention sector of the spaceport, selling tickets. She was working automatically, with her eyes fixed on the screen, not caring about anything else in the world. She had been working like that for a week or so, and it looked like she had been working at it for ages. "How may I help you?", she asked politely, but not facing the customer. 

"Four tickets to HappynessLand. If you don't have of those, four to Neverland. And I think you should face the clients when they come. You gave an annoying impression this way", Cynthia said, smiling.

Hazel raised her head automatically, puzzled. In front of her, Cyntha waved at her, and Semyl and Myona were behind her cousin, looking nervous.

"What are you three doing here?", Hazel asked, nervously. "I'm working here!"

"I know, but I came to bring you your things", Cynthia explained, giving her a bag full of things. "I couldn't bring the small sofa, for obvious reasons. And I couldn't find that little, yellow plastic duck"

"For what I care about it", the light blue haired girl said, angrily. "But I do care about the sofa. Just send it to my apartment"

"Your crumbling apartment? You must be joking", Cynthia said, seriously.

"Oh, forget it. They can also keep it", Hazel said, giving up.

"Hey, can't ya' close your window for a while? We also came 'ere to talk?", Semyl got into the cousin's conversation, slightly annoyed. "It's not nice to talk with a window in between"

"We have nothing to talk about", Hazel protested, angrily. "And I'm working! Do you want me to get fired?"

"Oh, come on, Haze! Semy's right! There ain't anybody behind us", Cynthia insisted. "Can't we act as civilized people and talk?"

"No", Hazel said, but she let go a small smile after that. "I can't leave my post. Wait until my shift is over"

"Hey, I'll cover you! Just go!", Arantxa's yelled from afar, running to Hazel's place. "Don't be so hard at them, rude girl", she told Hazel, joking, as she sat down on her seat, while Hazel stood up, shyly.

"See? We have to talk after all!", Cynthia exclaimed happily, her eyes widened by the surprise and filled with gratitude towards the stranger. "Even your boss wants you to clear your mess"

Arantxa laughed. "Thanks for that, but I'm not her boss. Just... an acquaintance", the black haired young woman said, after coming up with a term to defince her relationship with Hazel, even if it wasn't the correct one. "By the way, you must be Cynthia, aren't you? Hazel mentioned you a bit", she said, stretching her hand towards Cynthia, who shook it, confused. "I don't know who you two are, but 'hi'", she added, waving towards Semyl and Myona, who returned back the greeting, more confused than what Cynthia was, puzzled by the friendly behavior of the stranger.

"Is it that you are in every single place?", Hazel asked Arantxa, under her teeth. "Are you omnipresent or what?"

"I'm called 'Droopy', if you want to know", Arantxa said, passing one hand over her brilliant hair. "Now, go!", she insisted then, pushing Hazel with the other hand.

Hazel left her small desk quickly, and had to made half a round to go to her cousin and the other two girl's meeting. She wasn't looking friendly or excited about meeting them. In fact, she was quite annoyed. Myona, for the first time, was regretting her idea of coming to talk with Hazel.

"Alright, I'm here. What do you want?", Hazel asked, rudely. "I don't want to make my companion wait long, so be brief", she said, leaning against the wall. They were in a rather hidden place, next to the desks, but apart from the customers.

"You are too much at the defensive. We can't talk like this", Cynthia said, trying to calm her cousin down. "Nice uniform", she said, just to say something.

Hazel took a look at it, amused. She was wearing a dark green over-the-knees skirt and a coat of the same colour, with a white shirt and a red, narrow tie. It wasn't quite nice in her opinion, but it was a job. She wasn't going to choose a job for its uniform, was she?

"If you say so", the light blue haired youth replied, looking in another direction. "Come on, talk", she insisted, rudely.

"Stop with attitude!", Semyl bursted out, mad at Hazel. "If we came here is because we care, stupid! Can't ya' see it?", she said, pushing Hazel slightly from her shoulders. "Ya' won't solve anythin' by runnin' away, ya' know! So listen to what we 'ave to say, 'kay?"

Hazel's eyes widened, caught by Semyl's unpredictable -yet not surprising- outburst. What's more, she was partially right. She couldn't go on running away from her problems, but maybe they didn't care about her, but came to have fun at her. Of course, she didn't say it, as it would have infuriated Semyl even more.

"Stop pushing or I'll call the cops!", Hazel managed to mumble, shocked.

"Call them whenever you want! We won't leave until you hear what we want to say, at least!", the red haired girl said, still angrily.

"Semyl, you are being too hard with her!", Myona complained, nervously. She had to grab her friend's arm to stop her from pushing Hazel.

"Someone had to stop her", Semyl said, defending herself.

"Yes, but that's not the way...", Cynthia agreed with Myona, hitting the red haired girl lightly on the arm.

"So you wanna begin' a fight, uh?", Semyl glared at the brown haired student, rubbing her hit arm.

"Can you stop it, you two?", Hazel yelled, extremely annoyed. "Do you want me to get fired? If you don't, then stop arguing!"

The two girls shut up, still glaring at each other.

"Alright, what the Hell do you want here?", Hazel asked, annoyed.

"I know that I can't repairwhat my brother and I had done... but I'm extremely sorry", Myona started speaking, shyly. "We didn't really know what we were doing..."

"Wait a minute, you didn't do anything!", Semyl interrupted her, annoyed. "You lost your memory, and you told the truth to the entire world on TV..."

"So Ares is fully to blame, uh?", Hazel asked, not showing much enthusiasm. "He may have been the material author, but you all covered him. So you are all to blame"

"How can you blame us for that, if we didn't know at all that your parents had perished in that accident? You never said anything about your past.", the red haired girl replied, coldly. "How could we have expected something like what had happened?"

"It was a coincidence, Haze. You just had an incredible bad luck", Cynthia said, shugging.

"Alright, you three have a point there", Hazel admitted, annoyed. "But what about having said something about it before. Something like "Look, Hazel, Cynthia, we were that group which was involved in that Zephyrs issue almost two years ago. Do you remember about that? No? Do you remember the whole crisis at Hellespontos, then? Ah, now it's better. Ares, Myona and Cage were on the Bonaparte III, just to mention that". That wouldn't have hurt anyone"

Semyl let go a fake laugh. "That's like putting a signal on their foreheads for ever! It's like saying "Look, there goes the murderer!", while pointing them all the time. They deserve a second chance, don't you think?"

"All the people aboard the Bonaparte III also deserved it, and now it can't be, nor will ever be", the light blue haired girl replied coldly.

Semyl sighed, defeated.

"Semyl 1 - Hazel 1", Cynthia said, trying to sound cheerful. However, the 'scoring' joke wasn't well taken, as the other three girls looked at her oddly. Noticing this, Cynthia said in her behalf, "Hey, it was suppossed to enlighten the atmosphere a bit! This is getting tedious..."

"If you say so...", Myona said, shrugging.

Hazel took a look at her watch. Realizing that she couldn't take much more time from Arantxa, she said, "Look, I have to go. I won't return, if that's what you are wondering. I just can't. I always needed my time to trust in people, and what had happened taught me that I shouldn't change that matter. In fact, I should be more strict with it. I was starting to trust in all of you, and look how things turned out"

"It was an accident, and a damn coincidence", Myona interrupted her, softly.

Hazel sighed, placing her hand over the purple haired youth's shoulder. "Look, Myona. I know that you and your brother had suffered a lot, I understand it. But what you did was exactly the same that Zephyrs did to you, just to take revenge on someone who wouldn't have sufered much from it. And I'm not saying this just because my parents died there. There was more people. I saw little children abandoned, parents searching for their children's bodies. I know lots of stories of distroyed families. You can't ask me to forgive that so easily...", she explained, talking softly for the first time since their chat began. "I lost everything that day. I was left all alone. I still can't understand why Cynthia's parents took me in, as they had a bad relationship with my parents. Everyone says they are sorry, but that's not enough to trust in someone. I have my own, slow times..."

"Hazel, Ares didn't killed all the people there", Semyl said, slightly defending her friend's brother. "I don't mean that he's totally innocent, but Zephyrs sent one of his men to kill the remaining survivors. He's also to blame"

Hazel bite his lip, thooughtfully. "But I don't know who really killed my parents. I just can't give him the 'benefit of the doubt' that easily", she said, painfully. "Now, I have to go", she said, waving at them before turning back and walking to her desk.

"Hey, Hazel, wait a second!", Semyl called her, quickly.

Fortunately for them, Hazel turned back, with no hints of hate in her attitude.

"What did you do with your frame?", the red haired girl asked, a bit shyly. She was curious about the Tempus -now the Athenea- whereabouts, but she was also feeling a bit odd asking that. She didn't know how Hazel would take it.

And she took it bad, of course. Hazel just frowned, and went on walking.

"Hey, say something please!", Semyl insisted, ignoring Cynthia and Myona's pleading to shut up.

"It blowed up, if that's what really worried you", Hazel said, barely turning back. "You could have kept all that 'we are worry about you' acting behind and asked that directly", she said, turning back. Then, she finally left, under the three girl's puzzled looks.

* * *

Ethan let go a big yawn, stretching his arms widely in his small, sort of uncomfortable cockpit. Not that their task had been so tiring -they had already picked the Metatron from one of the warehouses of Corindon Labs, and were already in their way back-, but all the contrary. He was too tired of doing nothing. But he was also tired of being under the orders of a manipulating, carelessly jerk. He was starting to consider quitting from all that and try to start a normal life, but soon he realized it would be next to impossible. He was always under the orders of someone, and the military life was the only thing he knew. How could he began a 'normal' life, if he didn't know how it was? He was thinking in all those things when his twin talked to him, interrupting his almost methaphysical thoughts. 

"Hey, already sleeping?", Ruth asked, just to say something. "We hadn't done much"

"No, but I'm dead bored", Ethan said, yawning again. "Let's talk about something, before I fall asleep and start snoring", he threatened, annoyed.

"No, please, anything but that!", Ruth implored, trying to follow her twin's joke, but she realized that Ethan wasn't joking at all. He wasn't feeling well at that time, she could easily tell it, but was she feeling much better than him? Of course she wasn't well... but it Ethan made it visible, it was because he was in the last stages of sanity. She knew him well, after all they were twins. He always tried to look cheerful, or at least fine. If he was renuent to talk, or he said he wasn't feeling well, it was an important warning sign. "What's wrong with you?", she asked concerned, without thinking it twice.

Ethan just stared at her for a few seconds, then he asked, defeated, "Have any of you two think about how your lives would be out of here?"

Ruth sighed, worried. "So that troubled you, uh?", she asked, retorically. "I don't know what I would do. Maybe trying to study something interesting, but I don't know what. But why do you want to know that? You should live your present and stop thinking about the past or about what things could have been. It just hurts you even more than whining about your past"

"I know, but it's something that always haunts me", Ethan said, shrugging. "What about you, Mikenne?", he asked, turning to the red haired girl's screen.

The mentioned girl rose an eyebrow. "Is there any life apart from this?", she asked, as if she were surprised.

Ethan looked at her puzzled. "You must be kidding", he told her, surprsed.

Mikenne let go something close to a smile. "Of course I was", she said, not so convincing, still. "But I think that if it wasn't here, I would have ended in any military or paramilitary force. Guess it's destiny", she said, leaning against her seat.

"We can change our so called destiny", Ethan said, thoughtfully. "That's just bullshit. We aren't programmed, we can choose our curse of life"

"Unless you are a stoicist", Ruth said, shrugging.

Mikenne didn't say anything, but kept on thinking silently. "Lucky you", she mumbled, very softly.

"Did you say anything?", Ethan asked, noticing that Mikenne moved her lips.

"At all", the dark red haired girl said, trying to smile.

"Well, let's talk about something more interesting and less phylosophical", Ethan proposed, stretching his arms. "Ruth envies you, Mikenne. That's why she can't stand you", he said, grinning proudly.

Ruth's jaw almost dropped to the ground, extremely surprised of her twin's ocurrence. "Son of a...", she shouted, extremely angry at him.

"Remember that we came from the same womb", Ethan interrupted her, chuckling.

"But not from the same ovum, darling", the angry blonde woman replied back, anooyed. "Thank God!"

Mikenne looked serenely at Ruth, showing no certain emotion. "You... envy me?", she asked, softly. "You shouldn't... there's no reason to feel like that", she added, lowering her voice even more as she talked.

"Nah... this stupid is exaggerating... he can't live without making some fuss", Ruth said, trying to rest importance to the entire issue.

"But you admitted it", Ethan said, grinning. "You said that I was enlarging things, not that I wasn't wrong", he claimed triumphally, while his sister blushed violently. "Well, the matter is that she envies you because you took everything she had from her, from her 'squad female star' place to me, and including Marrek, of course. After all, she can't go out on a date with me, and she needs someone", he said, laughing.

"You moron", Ruth said under her breath, furiously.

Mikenne shook her head, still puzzled. "I wish I could be like both of you, instead", she said, sighing. At Ruth's puzzled face, she added, "I'm serious. You won't understand my reasons, but there's nothing that I would eant more rather than being someone else, somewhere else..."

Ruth rose an eyebrow. "You have everything to call yourself happy. You have attention from your superiors, one of the most powerful OFs, you've been asigned to another powerhorse, when we get it... and you don't want all that? You are weirder than what I have expected..."

"Do you think that only the material things can make you happy?", Mikenne said, annoyed. "Do you think I'm happy when I receive orders, when I have to do things that I don't approve? I would love to be a no-one, instead of being at the spotlight"

Ruth stayed thoughtful for a while, as if she were regretting what she had said before, but she wasn't of the ones that admitted their faults easily. Right when she looked like giving up, she counterattacked, saying, "Then, if you are so uncomfortable with your situation, why don't you quit? That would make everyone happy. Oh, everyone except my brother, of course", she said, enjoying her little, subtle vengeance towards Ethan.

"Marrek will be okay with Presea", Ethan just replied, calmly. Needless to say, Ruth felt more anger towards her brother with that answer. "I just hope you hadn-t slept with him", he went on saying. "If you did, I have to say that your IQ has fallen to unreachable places... next to Mars core". Even if he wanted to sound uninterested and distant, it was obvious that something was annoying him.

"It isn't that easy to quit", the dark red haired woman replied, ignoring Ethan's question. "Once you are in, you have to stay until... well, I guess it has to be until one's death"

"Good point there. I have to agree with that", Ethan said, thoughtfully. "Although I want to think that death's not the only way out from here. In fact, it isn't. I doubt that Marrek or anyone else will miss us much if we were to vanish right now. Only that I would pay to see that moron's face when he finds out that we are gone... like six days after we left, because he got fed up of Presea and wanted another female to play with", he said, laughing hard at the end.

"And I was the one obsessed with our boss...", Ruth said, sighing ashamed. "Bro, I feel ashamed of you"

Ethan stopped laughing, and remained silent. Ruth was right. Now he was the jerk. After all, did he really know what were they doing right then? Maybe Presea was an spy, or a soon-to-be runner. And most important, what the Hell tied him up to Presea? Nothing, thank God, he thought.

The three of them kept silent for a while, evading each other's glances. It wasn't so long when they reached Corindon Labs main building, where everything started.

Ruth took a look at the Labs, feeling strange. "And everything started here... Well, everything... all this lost frames business. A real pity that everything went not so well, and I was in charge, so..."

"So what?", Ethan asked, tired. "Are you going to start a depressing rant"

"No... I was just thinking...", the blonde woman said, zooming the Labs view in her screen. Just then, she noticed something... something that shouldn't be there. "What the...?", she exclaimed, irritated. "Looks like we have visitors, people", she said, sitting properly in her seat, and getting ready to attack.

"What? Where?", Ethan asked, lost at that statement. "What do you mean by that?"

"That unknown forces to us are getting into _our_ Labs", his twin explained, sighing. "It ain't BIS, our radars would have recognized them at once. Who could they be?", she asked, as the three frames where already changing their course to the Labs.

"We must be careful... We must be as sigious as we can", Mikenne commanded, coldly.

"And you are suppossed to be my superior?", Ruth mumbled under her breath. "I've already knew that before you came, my dear..."

On the other side, three normal LEVs with a notorious pink mark on its wings were parked outside the Labs. As the three BAHRAM frames -the Dioscuri and the Ifrit- were getting close to them, they could infilttratte in the strangers network.

"Piece of cake, ain't it?", a light orange haired girl said, stretching her arms widely in her cockpit.

"Pretty easy... Wish there were more jobs like this one", a beautiful, well produced blonde woman said, passing her hand over her clothes. "But it was pretty dirty on there. I hate dirty places!", she complained, annoyed.

"We shouldn't trust our look too much", a soft-spoken, green haired woman added, looking solemnly. "The time of confussion has yet to come..."

"Can't you just shut up, Palme!", the younger girl yelled at the green haired one, even if that last woman was older than her. "You are just a nuisance, you always spoil the little fun we have on the battlefield with that damned solemnity of yours!"

"The cards said it... I just interpreted them", Palme defended herself, monotonous.

"Then you always read them WRONGLY!", the high-pitched voice girl went on, her voice getting louder with each word.

"Digit, shut up!", the blonde woman, the older of the trio, complained, still annoyed. "Your shouts are killing me!", she said, touching her head.

"Oh, excuse me, dear Cubick! I didn't want to make you feel bad...", Digit, the youngest girl, apologized, really touched. For her, Miss Cubick was everything, her model and idol. She really wanted to be like her, to have the same beuty she had, but she knew she wouldn't be exactly like her. She was lowmouthed, to begin with, and she felt she couldn't leave that characteristic of hers behind. It wouldn't be herself...

"It's alright", Cubick said, resigned. "Now, let's go back home... This headache is killing me"

The three unknown OFs were starting their engines when Ruth looked at her two companions eagerly. "Aren't we gonna do something about this?", she asked, anxiously.

Neither Mikenne nor Ethan said a word.

"Come on, let's do something!", Ruth insisted, pleading. "At least, to get some excitement in this stuppid mission!"

"Well, that's a good point", Ethan said. "This is dead boring"

"But we can't take missions because they are funny or not!", Mikenne complained, annoyed. "This isn't a fun fair!"

"Come on! Maybe they took something that would incriminate us!", Ruth went on, trying to convince the red haired leader before the other three LEVs were already gone. "And what if they are that group that Marrek mumbled about? It would be better to stop them now than later..."

Mikenne thought for a while, analyzing the situation. Maybe Ruth was right... they had to stop them, somehow. "Alright, let's go", she commanded, running her Ifrit behind.

And so, the three frames went to the encounter of the other three LEVs...

* * *

Ares woke up, still feeling the same headache that sent him to bed. Still dizzy, he got up from it, after his unchosen nap. To make things better, the little plastic duck was still in the table. He just wanted someone else to take it, but it seemed that no one wanted to take it. The only though of that duck made him feel even more worried and miserable. Unconsciously, he grabbed it and left his room. 

He didn't walk too far when he found Mebius, walking quickly with Lia in her arms.

"Oh, Ares, how are you doing?", she asked him, stopping her quick walking. "You don't feel too well, do you?", she asked, taking a good glance at him.

His tired look was enough to reply to her question. Smiling lightly, he nodded. "I'm not feeling rather well... guess I should get used to this. But thanks for asking, Mebius", he said, resigned.

"Aren't you coming with us?", she asked, as she left Lia on the ground and grabbed the little girl's hand.

"Where? What's going on?", he asked, confused.

"Twede found those frames near Hazel's Labs... there are other unknown Metatron reactions, so we are going to take a look... May I ask you a fovour, if you are not going?"

"Sure, tell me", he agreed, trying to look better. "Right now, I don't feel like getting into an OF anymore..."

Mebius looked at him, sadenned. She could understand how he was feeling, but she couldn't do much to ease his pain. She knew that feeling too well... "We are short of people, and I have to go... could you look after Lia while I'm out? Twede says he's kind of fed up of having to baby-sit her...", the blonde woman explained, shrugging. "I wouldn't bother you if I didn't have to, especially in the state you are now...", she said, trying to comfort the light haired guy.

"What? Do you think I'm a terribly bad influence for Lia?", Ares asked, raising an eyebrow. He could understand that statement coming from Hazel or from Cynthia, but from Mebius... that was too much.

"Not at all!", Mebius complained, annoyed and fearful of having hurt him much. "I know how you feel. I also had a terrible dark time over me, and I understand you if you don't want to have anything to do with anything. That's why I said that, and for no other reason. I don't think that what you did before was the correct thing to do, but I think that you deserve a second chance... You need to live your life from once and for all, without thinking in the ghosts of the past... Your parents wouldn't have wanted that neither for you nor for Myona...", she said, as motherly as she was.

Ares smiled lightly, thanking Mebius's words. "Sorry for that, then", he apologized. "Now, what happened with the others? Are they all gone?", he asked, surprised.

"Yukito had an appointment with his Dad. And the girls... well, they are gone. Only Cage, Warren, Robin, Razma and I are available", she explained, kissing Lia good-bye. "Now, little one, you'll stay with Uncle Ares will Mom is out. You won't be a nuisance for Uncle Ares, will you?", Mebius told the little girl sweetly.

"I won't!", little Lia replied, giggling. She was a cheerful child, even if she was being raised in a rebel atmosphere. Her broad smile was something nice to see, and she had the same habit of closing her eyes when she smiled, as her adoptive mother.

"How could she be a nuisance, if she's the most adorable little girl I know?", Ares asked, grabbing the little girl by the shoulders. "Now, Mebius, were have the girls gone? They went to see Hazel, haven't they?", he asked, seriously.

Mebius shrugged, resigned. "I shouldn't tell you this, but yes, they went to the Spaceport to see Hazel... and I've told you enough"

"The Spaceport? Is Hazel leaving, by any means?", he asked, quickly, but was interrupted by Mebius.

"I told you not to ask me anything more. Do you think that she would like to talk to you now? Isn't it too soon?", the blonde haired woman asked him.

"I know that she doesn't want to even listen about my death, but I need to talk to her, nothing else. I want her to listen from my lips what I felt, even if that won't do much. But I have to do that", Ares explained, giving the little plastic duck to Lia, so she wouldn't get bored.

Mebius smiled. "Alright, so you'll be going after all", she said, sort of approving. "But stay here a bit, looking after Lia, at least for half an hour. You promised me that you would look after her, after all", she added, chuckling.

"I never said I wouldn't look after her", Ares replied, smiling lightly. "But I'll go to the spaceport, no matter what", he said, waving goodbye to her.

Mebius looked as Ares left, walking with Lia at his side, holding hands. She smiled lightly, feeling at ease. However, she felt like a shadow over her as they walked away, something that drove away the little happyness she had felt seconds ago. It was a familliar feeling, one that once appeared to stay; if it went away, it was only for little. "Without thinking in the ghosts of the past...", she recalled her own words, when she was trying to sheer Ares up. She smiled ironically, with her eyes closed. "How hypocrital from me... ", she scolded herself, angrily. "How could I say that, if I... if I...", she started repeating, but she couldn't go on, victim of her own regretting pain. Crystalline tears started walking across her cheeks. "Honey... Tia... forgive me for everything I have done and for what I haven't", she mumbled, before running desperately to the hangar, wishing that no one could see her like that.

* * *

It didn't took long for what was left of BIS to find where the small battle was taking place. In fact, the two groups were still next to the now abandoned Labs, throwing lasser issiles to each other. 

Cage sighed, looking at them. "Isn't it odd? They are immersed in the fight. We coould walk next to them and they would hardly notice us", he said, uninterested in the fight.

"Are you saying that we should return back, without having fun?", Razma asked, getting excited. "Come on, Cage, don't be a nuisance and let's go and kick their asses, now that they must be getting short of ammo!", the red haired youth propsed, ready to make them pay the damages brought upon his poor Dreizhen in the last battles.

"Cage is right, we shouldn't get in if they don't bother us", Warren said, giving Cage the reason. "We don't know who the others are, yet, and there could be a chance that both of them start attacking us, while we are just three frames, one combat LEV and a supply LEV", he said, sounding wisely.

"Looks like the fatherhood and the love state spoiled both of you, guys", Razma complained, annoyed.

Cage payed no attention, but Warren felt a sudden heat, but remained calm, as ever.

"Anyway, I don't think they would team up", Robin said from the Edge, giggling. "Zoom in the combat area, and you'll see why I say this", she said, smiling.

"What? Are they the Mars Angels?", Razma asked, grinning broadly. "Yukito will die of rage when he knows this"

"That's right", Robin nodded, approvingly. "Looks like you remember well the pink stripe across the wing", she joked.

"I remember well other things than the pink mark", Razma said, laughing awkwardly.

"Always the same idiot", Semyl said, glaring at him.

"Hey, what are you doing here!", Razma asked, astonished.

"I'm your worst nightare, remember that well!", the red haired girl yelled at him, angrily. "And to answer your question, we have just came from the spaceport. Cynthia and Myona will come at any time", she explained, briefly. "Now, it's showtime, or ain't it?", she asked, also excited about the upcoming battle.

"Do you also think we should get into a battle, one that we are uninvited to?", Mebius asked, sort of puzzled, as her mind wasn't right there with them, but miles away.

"Why not? They sort of screwed up my precious Cali!", the red haired girl yelled, still annoyed by the past incident.

The grown ups in the group looked at each other, puzzled. Cage couldn't help but grinning at the coincedence between Semyl and Razma.

"Why do ya' all 've those faces?", Semyl asked, strangely. "What's wrong with ya'?"

"That you used my own words as a reason to get into a fight" Razma explained her, cooly. "It's obvious that you can't do anything but imitate me", he said, superiously.

"You idiot!", she yelled at him, pure hatred in her eyes.

"Hey, you two, shut up!", Robin yelled, sweting. "They've seen us!", she exclaimed, pointing forwards.

In fact, both the BAHRAM remain's and the Mars Angels stopped fighting for a while, staring at the newcomers. Now, battle was an obvious result.

"Great. And I just wanted to slip by", Mebius said, frowning.

"I't your fault, idiot!", Semyl blamed Razma, before he could blame her, feeling ashamed of her childish behavior.

"If it weren't for your high-pitched yellings, we would be safe!", Razma told her back, irritated.

"Stop fighting, you two, that we can't mend it up now", Cage interrupted the quarreling youths, resigned.

"Cage's right. Shut up your mouths", Warren said, harshly. That was enough to make the red haired youths silent.

"Man, BIS is everywhere!", Ruth complained, but now she had lost her characterizing irony, and now she looked like a resigned young woman, rather than the great fighter she had always wanted to be -or pretended to be. "I think I'll even see you in my meals!", she exclaimed, as she thought of herself drinking soup, while the letter shaped pasta on it started writing the BIS members names by itself.

"Hi guys", Ethan said, also resigned. "We should go on a picnic someday", he joked, stretching his arms forward. "If we keep on bumping into each other, we'll end up being buddies. But we should kill Marrek first, or he'll pester us about killing all of you"

"Ethan, stop with that", Mikenne told her, disapprovingly. "Split up! Don't let the rebels to go away with the data!", she commanded, coldly.

"If you say so", Ethan said, shrugging. He didn't want to fight, but there was no other way round once he was there. He was starting to get fond of the BIS crew, at heart. Well, getting fond was a manner of saying it...

"Oh, Hell, here she comes again!", Digit cursed nervously, as Mikenne's Ifrit made its way to the Mars Angels, and the Dioscuri covered her back.

"Digit, watch out your manners", Cubick scolded her, looking at her polished nails. "I just hope this won't take much more. I'll get claustrophobic if I stay here much longer"

"Who would have say it...", Ruth mumbled, getting into the Angels' chat. "I thought you all had health tests before you were chosen to be part of the squad"

"It's not your business!", Digit interrupted the blonde enemy, shouting. "You should think it twice before talking about Cubick, the eldest Sister like that!"

Ruth blinked twice, quickly, puzzled. For her, it was obvious that the younger girl was going through an 'worshipping state'. It was odd for her, because she thought that that kind of obsession was just towards men... She looked like a crazy fangirl, in her humble opinion. "And then Ethan thinks I'm obsessed about Marrek", she thought, giggling, as she slashed Digit's frame with her frame's laser sword.

The BIS crew stayed there without moving, quite surprised by the Mars Angels's and BARHAM's remains attitude. They kept on fighting wach other, as if nothing had ever happened. It was an odd situation, considering that both Ruth and Ethan (more Ruth than Ethan) seemed eager to make them vanish from the face of Mars.

"This is odd...", Semyl said, almost jawdropping. "I mean... come on! Shouldn't we do something?", she asked, astonished.

"But what should we do?", Cage asked, shrugging. "We can't get into that fight as if nothing had ever happened..."

"Do you want a reason to get into this fight?", Cubick, the blonde haired Angel asked, overhearing their chat. "Just help us! They are trying to get the data we got from those Labs!", she p´leaded nervously, as she tried to evade one of Mikenne's shots.

"So there must be something important there...", Robin said, rubbing her chin.

"Yeah, whatever!", Digit complained, as she received another blow from Ruth. "Just help us, will ya'?"

"Don't listen to them, guys!", Ruth said, ironically. "Nobody asked your help here, so why don't you turn back and leave, before someone gets hurt"

"Ya' won't talk to me like that!", Semyl outbursted, furiiously. "Not after you almost destroyed my Cali!"

"Look how frightened I'm", Ruth replied, mocking a yawn.

In a matter of seconds, Ruth was now fighting against Digit and Semyl, switching from the Metatron blade to the gun in little time. Ethan, on the other hand was fighting with Palme, with little interest. Finally, Mikenne and Cubick were in a fierce battle without rest...

"Alright, this is enough. Let's split up", Robin commanded, preparing the Blade's cannons.

"Better done before you say it", Razma chuckled, leaving to aid Semyl with Mebius. Warren could deal with Ethan by himself, as the enemy guy showed little interest in the fight.

Cage, without thinking it twice, went strightly to Mikenne and Cubick's fight, with an odd feeling within himself. Mikenne was running an Ifrit, an exact copy of Testament, just as Will was. However, Ifrit's were like a direct sibling to Testament, as they were produced by the same mad-mind of Zephyrs.

"What's behind all this?", Cage demanded, as he backstabbed Mikenne's Ifrit, taking the red-haired runner by surprise. "Why do you do all this?"

"None of your business", Mikenne replied coldly, attacking him with the Rusty Cutter.

"You three keep on saying that all the time", Cage protested, going forward and evading her new shots, as he tried to knock her down with his own Cutter. "What do you have to do with this Labs?", he insisted, slashing her frame from the back.

The red haired female runner didn't reply. A strange, rather maniac grin appeared in her face, and she kept on attacking constantly, without giving Cage many chances to get away, at least a little.

On the other hand, the one that was having a troubled time was Ruth, as she was being attacked by the over excited trio that Digit, Semyl and Razma made, who weren't going to let her escape that easily. However, Ethan wasn't too interested in the battle, and he was getting a considerable amount of damage that way.

"Strange it is... to find an enemy who's not interested in saving himself", Palme mumbled, rushing forwards to the light brown guy's frame.

"It's not that I don't want to save my butt. All the contrary, we always run away before the frames get highly damaged", Ethan explained, yawning.

"Ethan, don't be stup... kyyaaa!", Ruth began complaining, but the sudden hit of an enemy shot knocked her down, interrupting her soon-to-be rant.

"Ruth, are you alright?", he yelled, worried. That was enough to make him fight decently, while he tried to get to where his sister was.

"Of course I am! Now, go back to your post!", the girl replied, annoyed. She patted herself on the back mentally, congratulating herself in her lying abilities, as she wasn't so well as she tried to look like, but she wasn't going to show her weak side.

Back on the fight, Palme was about to get knocked down by Ethan, if Warren hadn't knocked him down first.

The green haired young woman looked through the screen at Warren, pleased. "Thank you", she mumbled, finally. "Oh, my... you remind me of Aleister Crowley", she mumbled, nervously. She couldn't help it, but now she was blushing, after she found the resemblance between Warren and her top-favorite movie star.

"Err... are you okay?", Warren asked her, sweating. He didn't like how the middle sister stared at him, silently.

"Ooops... looks like I turned back too late and knocked you down, sorry", Mebius said, frowning. Accidentaly, her frame hit with Palme's LEV, after getting shot by Mikenne's Ifrit. She couldn't tell why, but she got annoyed, suddenly.

"It's alright", the green haired woman replied, resigned, and coming out from her trance.

Warren couldn't believe what he had just seen. Could it be that Mebius had gotten... jealous, even if it was for a second? It couldn't be like that...

"Hey, come here and help us!", Razma yelled, as he moved to his left to evade one of Ruth's shots.

"He's right, what are ya' thinking about?", Semyl joined her mate's plead, while aiming her Caliburnus's Star Carnival over Ruth. "Get movin'!"

From afar, a Metatron shot appeared, and striked near the Castor's core, making the entire frame to shake violently. By theimpact, Ruth also shook violently, almost hitting her head with the OF screens.

"It worked out! I can't believe it!", a familiar, enthusiast voice exclaimed, over-excited. "Myona, I can't believe it did work!", Cynthia exclaimed, jumping in her seat.

"Alright, that's fine, but can you stop jumping over me?", the purplish haired girl pleaded, frowning and uncomfortable, as they were sharing the small seat in the Carpe's cockpit. They were already one over the other, and the fact that Cynthia was jumping excited didn't help anything, but made the situation worse.

"Oppsss... sorry", Cynthia apologized, blushing.

"Myona... you came!", Cage said softly, smiling. Unfortunately for him, the twin fframe he was battling against took advantage of that and stroke him from backwards.

"Cage, are you alright?", his girlfriend yelled, anxiously.

"Should I shot her to death?", Cynthia asked excited, as it looked like she was in a good day, since all her attacks could be launched, unlike other days. However, Myona glared at her. "Alright, no", she said, after the thing that made her desist from her bloody project.

"Yes, I'm fine", Cage said, but he was lying. His frame was running short of energy at each attack, while Mikenne still showed signs of having plenty of energy to go on.

"What are you doing here, girls?", Robin asked, while waiting her LEV to finish the replenishment of energy towards Razma's frame.

"We weren't going to stay in the Saoshyant, after all", Cynthia explained, smiling.

"And as there weren't any other frames or LEVs... we had to share one", Myona said, shrugging.

"Well, alright people... now, could you give us a hand? It's pretty tough in here!", Digit demanded, inviting herself into the conversation.

"It's not a polite way to ask for help, but hey, she's right", Cubick said, as she tried to keep her frame balanced after a blow from the Ifrit.

"Mikenne, we are running short of energy!", Ruth cried, as she fall backwards in her seat, her frame was falling the same way after the Caliburnus and the Dreizhen's Metatron swords slashed her frame at the same time. She couldn't stand it much more. If she wanted to avoid getting hurt, this was the time to leave. Especially now, with the two different groups allied against them.

"No, we can't now! Keep on attacking!", the red haired woman replied back, shouting. Quickly, her frame went up and appeared behind Cage's Will, backstabbing him.

"Mikenne, Ruth's right. We have to retreat now!", Ethan said, while firing at the Orcrist to finally get rid of Mebius. "I can barely cope with this three frames, and my sister can't do anything by herself... What the hell are you waiting for?", he asked, now trying to fire at the Durandal II, but a beep stopped him. "Shit, no more ammo in this thing!", he cursed, kicking the cockpit to let go his rage.

"Try to do something, but don't disturb me!", Mikenne answered back, more irritated. It looked like there wasn't a way to stop her from fighing.

"Mikenne, don't be so stupid. Stop with all this circus now!", Ethan implored, as he tried to cover his sister's frame from the attacks of the now enthusiast Digit, who wasn't going to let go the blonde haired enemy so easily.

The red haired temporary leader didn't answer, but kept on fighting towards Will and Carpe, who had just joined Cage in his effort to stop Mikenne.

"What's wrong with you? Will you go on until our frames explode?", Cage asked, trying to type a combat command but failing with the Ifrit's constant attacks. He wouldn't resist much if the runner of the Ifrit went on attacking him like she was doing now. Nor would Cynthia and Myona, the two girls sharing the same cockpit and dealing with a somewhat 'user-unfriendly' frame. Cage closed his eyes, waiting the worst... His frame's 'health bar' was going down, almost next to zero... The alarm was ringing loudly, torturing him. The idea of dying in the so silent, cold and unpersonal Will made Cage miss Pharsti so much...

The red Ifrit rushed next to the Will, with its Metatron lance aiming at the BIS OF. Mikenne was like possessed, with no expression in her face as she rushed forward. Right at the moment of slashing her opponent, the laser bullets of a cannon hit her frame, knocking her down and miss her objective, giving Cage the enough time to rush faar from her, leaving him with the bitter sense of not being able to shot her, in his self-defense.

Confused, Mikenne looked around, finding out that the frame that shot to her was Ethan's one. Laying on the ground, the brownish frame was still aiming at her, and its runner looked very tired and angry. "You made me do it", the light brown haired said, mocking a grin over his angry look. "There was no option left"

"What do you mean?", Mikenne asked, annoyed. However, it was as if she were realizing what she had been about to do, and that made her feel awkward. She couldn't hide it much, tough.

"You aren't... sorry, you weren't like this, I mean", Ethan explained, as he got up from the floor and hurried his sister's frame, which was still on the ground. Gently, yet quickly, he helped his twin to get up. Amazingly enough, their frames moved gently, just like two persons would have done.

"I told you not to trust in her", Ruth chanted sort of triumphally, but she wasn't enjoying the moment. Right now, she wanted to leave that place and close herself in her room, and stay hours looking either at the wall or the ceiling, debating her whole life until now.

Mikenne looked in another direction, embarrassed. Ethan was right, she wouldn't have been so close to kill someone if it wasn't strictly necessary. She had learnt to distinguish the necessity from the mere 'fun' of that job. She had no need to kill Cage. After all, he wasn't threatening against her life. He was part of the enemy, but considering in the state her opposing frame now was, it wasn't necesarry to kill the runner. A cold feeling passed through her spine, bringing back a time where she was just as she had acted today...

"Alright, let's go", Mikenne just said, sharply. Right then, she rushed in the other direction, leaving the whole group -both "friends" and foes- behind, without any consideration.

"And what about the data?", Ruth asked, astonished, as she couldn't understand how Mikenne could go away without retrieving what they were suppossed to get.

"Weren't both of you about to die!", the dark-red haired woman asked, irritated. "Now we are leaving... I can't cope with all of them together, and I'm not gonna sacrifice both of you!", she shouted, annoyed.

"Don't believe her, Ethan, she's just trying to win the points she lost when she tried to kill that kid", the blonde haired twin said quickly, ironically.

"Do you mean that she doesn't want to sacrifice us because we are all that they have left?", Ethan said, joining Ruth's joke, and raising an eyebrow. He wasn't too fond of the idea of making fun of Mikenne, but he couldn't let that attitude of hers go by as if nothing had ever happened.

However, Mikenne didn't reply. She had just closed her contact with the others, and as her frame was on auto-pilot, stayed there, with her mind in blank and her eyes fixed in the nowhere...

"Hey, anybody there?", Ruth asked, mockingly. As no one replied, she said, "Seems she's dead"

Ethan frowned, annoyed. "Let's go... and could you stop acting like that? You weren't like this, also...", he replied back, coldly.

Ruth didn't said anything, closed her contact with her brother and went off, leaving him behind. Before switching the group conversation mode off, she mumbled, angrily, "Don't think you are a saint. You weren't like this, too"

Ethan nodded, much to her surprise. "I know", he just said, as he moved forward.

On the other side, the Mars Angels and BIS stared at the leaving group, with a sense of relief.

"Well, looks like we always get in trouble together, guys", Cubick said to the BIS members, grinning. "Thanks for the help", she thanked, moving her head nicely. "I guess we should hand over what we got, sisters. It would be more useful for them than what it is for us", she added, a bit more freely than before.

"I agree", Palma just said, nodding.

"But... we did all this just for nothing?", Digit complained, annoyed. However, at the only sight that her so-loved Cubick was starting to frown, she said, sighing, "Alright, alright, I agree", she said, typing some things in her screen. "Which frame will receive the file?", she asked, uninterested.

"Send it over the Blade", Robin said, smiling.

It took the youngest Angel a few moments to finish the delivery. Annoyed, she said, once she had heard the 'beep', "It's over"

"I think it will be useful for you... Considering that you came here, and that those others knew you, it's highly probable", the oldest sister said, distant. "Well, let's go"

"Wait a second", Palme pleaded, softly as ever. "I'd like to make them a reading...", she said, picking her tarot cards from a hidden pocket in her frame.

"Do you think it's time?", Digit started scolding the middle sister, energically. "Cubick said it was time to leave, so you must better leave that nonsense and move your butt from here!"

However, Palme was absorted with her cards, and made no signal of having heard the younger girl at all.

Cubick sighed. "Let her go on with her cards. She won't listen to you", she said, resigned.

The green haired woman stopped mixing the cards and started unveiling them, one by one. When that was over, she stared at them, silently. "I sense... the time of time of confussion...", Palme finally said, absorted in the contemplation of her tarot cards.

"You had already said that!", Digit shouted, sighing. "Is that the only thing you can say?"

"This is what the cards say", Palme went on, ignoring the younger 'sister'. "The time of confussion and trials have already arrived... When, or after -it's not clear- the dark wind comes, a brownish fire will die off, and the blue girl will be clueless about destiny and life..."

"Well, is that everything?", Cubick asked bluntly, uninterested in the middle sister's predictions.

"Wait, I see more", Palme said, not paying attention to the youngest sister bad treats towards her. "Darkness will fall, and a couple will get in trouble, and everyone's wishes will get soaked in tragedy..."

"Uhh... scary", Cubick said ironically, tired of that "tarot act"

"Is that all?", Digit asked, impatient.

"I don't see anything else", Palme said, picking the cards and putting them togetherin their case.

"If so, let's get out from here. I don't want to spoil my hair with all that wind out there",theCubicksaid, as her fingers run through her hair, as if it were a shampoo comercial, showing all her charm.

"Farewell, then", Palme greeted the BIS members, but it was as if she was just looking at Warren, and no one else.

"Goodbye!", Digit said, winking an eye at them. "And remember: we, the Mars Angels, are your n°1 information dealers, so be grateful with us!", she said, before she started laughing quite tomboyish.

"Digit, stop with your show", the blonde haired leader scolded her, tired.

That was enough to make the younger sister silent, who started her LEV engine and walked off, joining the other two Angels. Soon, they were gone, lost in the vast, open Martian land.

"There they are, the Mars Angels", Robin said, staring at the horizon.

"They are quite messy, in my opinion", Cynthia said, quite puzzled. "I thought they were more stylish... or something like that. They are no different than a pop band", she said, sighing.

"Disappointed?", Mebius asked, smiling.

"Hmmm... a little bit", the brown haired student recognized, shrugging. "Not that I was their fan, but I thought them more mature at heart. That they were playing a role... Looks like this isn't the case"

"Anyway, Yukito will die of rage when he knows this", Razma repeated, grinning. "It's the second time that he misses them"

"And it's the second time they give us information", Myona said, a bit uncomfortable in her shared seat with Cynthia. "I wonder what kind of troubles will this bring us now...", she said, in a clear reference to their not so past incidents.

"Well, we got to know that Zephyrs had something to do with the 'accident', so... who knows?", Cage said, shrugging.

"I don't know, but I think it'll be better to return quickly, so we can take a look at this file", Robin suggested, her eyes fixed at the screen. "The file's name doesn't give a hint about its content"

"How is it called?", Mebius asked.

"Lab1", the light haired woman said, resigned. "Let's return back", she said.

And slowly, the BIS crew started its way back home.

* * *

Ares walked thorugh the mechanic door and stood up, clueless at the sight of the immense spaceport. He had no idea where to start looking for Hazel, in fact, he didn't know if she was leaving or working there, so he just went there to wander aimlessly through the place. Sighing, he started walking, with the confidence that his feet knew where they were taking him. 

After wandering for some time -time that seemed like an eternity- he found her, behind one of the flight companies' desks. She looked strange with the green suit and jacket, which didn't match much with her light blue hair, and that thin tie around her neck wasn't nice either, giving her the aspect of a croupier rather than an information lady. A cold feeling passed through his back. How would she react at his sight? For the first time, he was afraid of talking to her. All his determination seemed to vanish as he put a foot on the spaceport.

"Hazel, could you bring some ink cartridges? We are running short of ink", someone said.

"Alright", Hazel just replied, monotonous. She stood up and picked her jacket, and left for a room behind the desks.

Ares followed her with his eyes, and after thinking for a brief moment, he followed her, with his heart bumping. Nobody stopped him when he went into that room, that led to a passage. Further ahead, Hazel went on walking. He had to walk quickly to reach her. It was now or never...

"Hazel!", he called her, trying ot to show his nervousness. He closed his eyes wide shut for a moment.

Hazel stopped walking at once, as if she had frozen when she listened her name. Slowly, she turned back, with a blank expression. It took her a while to say anything... "What are you doing here?", she asked, coldly. "Have you come here to kill one of the few people who now know your secret and that won't shut up?", she asked, angrily.

Ares bit his lower lip, nervously. "We have to talk", he just said, seriously.

"Oh, yes, talk", the light blue haired girl said ironically, looking at her nails. "As you did with all the people in the Bonaparte III, and with Zephyrs, didn't you?"

"Hazel, stop with that!", Ares shouted, fed up of the situation. "I know that what I did is unforgivable, and I'm not asking for your forgiveness... But I can't go through life with a banner over my head that says that I'm a mass murderer! Can't you see that? Don't you think that if someone is ashamed and feels guilty about what he or she has done, it deserves a second chance?"

"The death ones also deserve a second chance, and no one can give them one", Hazel replied, looking down.

"I know, and I tried to pay my error, and the same weapon that I used to kill those passengers was the same thing that saved me, for some unkown reason! I didn't have anything to do with that!"

"Then, why can't you die? That's because you can't do it! You are afraid to die, and then you jumped from that OF and pretended the others to believe you dead! Do you think I can believe you that your frame saved you? For God's sake!", Hazel shouted at his face, furiously. Hatred showed in her eyes, and she seemed out of herself.

"Hazel, it's the entre tuth!", Ares told her, grabbing her from her shoulders. "I can't ask you to believe this, but if there were something I can do to repair what I've done, I'd do it, but I can't bring up the death, and you know it too well. Nor your tears, pain and hatred can do it. Try to start thinking in yourself, without forgetting them, and live on for both them and you, without doing a senseless thing as I did", he told her, as a tear fel down his eyes.

Hazel looked at him expressionless, now confused by his last statement. "Who the Hell do you think you are to tell me how I should live my life, if you screwed it up? Keep your pieces of advice for yourself, that you need them more than what I do! Now, who told you that I was here? It must have been Myona, or either Semyl or Cynthia... stupid girls... Get the Hell out of here!", she shouted, pushing him backwards, realising herself from his arms.

"Hazel, you shouldn't...", Ares started saying, but he was interrupted by the furious girl.

"Get out!", she shouted again, but Ares didn't move. Seeing that he wouldn't leave her workplace by his own will, she had to take the rough path. Quickly, she took something from one of her green jacket's pockets. It was a small gun, and she pointed it up straight to Ares's chest. "Now, get out, or I'll shot!", she said coldly, saying each word slowly.

Ares looked at the shinning gun, and tried to look quiet, although he felt she would fire at him at any time. "Hazel, don't do anything stupid... or that you would regret in the future...", he told her, calmly.

Hazel laughed, but it was obvious that she was faking it. "I wouldn't regret this... How would I regret it if I it would bring some peace to my life? My paretns would finally rest at peace, as well as many people. One life, for the sake of thousand others... just the other way round of what you did. You sacrificed innocent lives to torture just one soul. You shouldn't be alive... or free...", Hazel said, loading the weapon and pointing it at Ares, again. "Now, leave, or I'll shot you", she said. "I won't say it again"

"You can't do it", Ares told her. "You wouldn't give me so many opportunities to escape if you were determined to kill me"

"You bet?", she asked, placing her finger in the trigger. She started to press the trigger...

"Hazel, what's wrong with you? Where's that dammned ink?", a guy yelled, walking along the corridor to where they were. It was just then, when he was closed to them, when he noticed that something was wrong. "Hazel, is everything alright?", he asked, examining Ares rfom head to toe.

"Yes, it is", Hazel said, hiding the gun from her superior's sight. "He was just leaving, weren't you, _Vale_?", she asked, emphatizing Ares' real name, thing that puzzled him.

"I hope he is", the guy said, not too satisfied with the answer. "How is it that you arrived here? I guess we'll have to hire extra security, after all!", he mumbled, as he walked his way back to the desks and left Hazel and Ares alone, again.

Ares turned back to try to talk to Hazel, but he found her aiming at his head this time. "Alright, I won't bother you, now... but you should try to..."

"No more pieces of advice, thank you!", she said, bluntly. "I don't want to see you never ever again"

"Alright", he said, knowing that it was useless to try to talk with her. Defeated, he turned back and walked to the exit, with rage.

The sound of the door closing behind Ares resounded in the corridor, and especially in Hazel's head. Abruptely, she knelt down on the floor, throwing the gun as she felt, and tears came up from her eyes, all of a sudden and altogether.

"Why am I so weak?", she asked herself between her tears. "Why am I so weak?"

But there was no one to answer her.

* * *

Alright, I'm still alive. If there's someone reading this, I'm sorry for the HUGE delay. Real life has gotten nothing but more complicated. I've just finished this chapter, and I haven't even written a single line of the following. I hope to get it finished before March, I guess... . 

I would like to hear what do you think about the course the story has taken, I'd really like. If there's one caring soul out there who wants to satisfy this wish (how poetic P), please do, but I'll already warn you that I won't be able to reply at once (alright, I'm a living contradiction, what's the matter? P).

Well, finally, the so mentioned, yet never shown up Mars Angels appeared! This wouldn't be a FoM fanfic if the Angels weren't in. giggle I just hope to have portrayed them well, even if they had an almost unsignificant role in the game, with less than a chapter of presence and script. So, please tell me if their presence sucked or not. ;). I don't have any idea about who that "Aleister Crowley" is, despite he is mentioned in Palme's bio, so, I make him a movie star, just to make him a little bit of life, poor guy. In case I hadn't put it clear, Cubick is the elder sister, Palme, the middle one and Digit the youngest.

As you can see, I suck at writing premonitions/predictions/those kind of things, but Palme needed one to be really her P. But I suck even more when battle scenes concern. I know I could have made the Ifrit - Will (Testament clone) battle more juicy (well, completely juicy, as this one was quite insipid), but well, that will have to wait until the revision (which will come... in the future, only God knows when...)

Well, guess this is everything for the time being. It's getting really difficult to write nowadays, but I WANT (I HAVE to) finish writing this fic before retiring... I had a couple of other ideas, but I don't think they will ever see the light... Too sad for me, who's the only one who cares about it... Oh, now that I think of it, I'll try to update the webpage before I have the next chapter finished, but you can already have an idea about when will happen that...

Oh, and if I can't even write my fic, don't think that I had/have time to check other people's works... I'm really complicated with time... sorry there.

All for now... till some other time (not soon)


	17. Astray

Chapter 17: "Astray"

Ethan got off from his frame, his arms stretched so they would get used to the wide space again, after being in the cockpit for such a long time. A few steps behind, his twin and Mikenne followed him.

The red-haired young woman walked in haste and grabbed Ethan by the shoulder, bluntly. "Why did you do that?", she yelled, angrily.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, indifferently. "Which one? Telling you that you were acting stupidly, or firing at you? Anyway, both..."

"Both things mean the same!", she interrupted him, coming with the exact phrase he was about to say, thing that surprised him to no end.

"I was about to say the same, exact words you did", he told her, astonished. "How did you...?"

"I don't know and I don't care!", Mikenne went on talking angrily. "Why did you do that? I was in charge, I knew what I had to do!"

"Well, you didn't seem like that!", Ethan replied back, loosing the little patience he had. "You started acting strangely, and you almost killed that guy!"

"And since when do you worry about the enemy's conditions?", she asked, ironically. "I wasn't going to kill him, after all! I was just trying to persuade them not to go on fighting against us!"

"Oh, as we are such a marvelous squad", Ruth said, sarcastically.

Both Ethan and Mikenne looked at Ruth, annoyed.

"Oh, well, at least you still do agree on something. Only that I'm the one who looses here", the blonde-haired girl said, sighing. "Tear yourselves into pieces, I can't care less!", she said, walking away from them, and leaning agaist her frame, bored. She may not care about their fight, but that was something to see, so she would stay there, instead of getting bored on her own in the base. After all, her brother had a high opinion of Mikenne, it was time that he came down to Earth, in her opinion.

"As I was saying", Mikenne went on, coughing. "I'm the one at charge, and I can't be told what to do or not by a subordinate!"

"You were about to do a nonsense thing!", Ethan complained, annoyed. "At the state you were, I can't believe you that you weren't going to kill that guy, frankly"

"And what if I killed him?", Mikenne asked him. "Would that change anything?"

"You would have turned into a moron, as it wouldn't have been a self-defense act, as you had no like risk. If if had been Ruth's case, the outcome would have been different, as my opinion, because she was in a risky situation", Ethan explained, staring coldly at her eyes.

"That's my twin! Be hard on her, Ethan!", Ruth shouted proudly from her position.

Again, Mikenne and Ethan looked at her, annoyed.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! Go on, I won't say anything else", the blonde woman promised, her hand raised.

"As I was saying", Ethan said, using the same expression just to annoy her, "You had no reason to kill that guy. Someone taught me before that I had to avoid killing someone if my life wasn't in danger. And that person is right looking at me, only that she seemed to have changed her opinion, somehow... thing that upsets me like no other, as she seemed to be one of the few thoughtful people in this living Hell that BAHRAM or any Army is, at War times"

Mikenne looked down, blushing. What he had said was all true. She once thought that killing an enemy when one's life wasn't in danger was useless and cruel, yet today... she almost did it, and for no reason. She was still angry at him for having shoot her down, but if he hadn't done that, what would have been the outcome? She had to be grateful to him for his action, but she couldn't see it that way at that moment. In fact, she couldn't see anything clear now.

Speechless, Mikenne just turned back and left the hangar. She didn't know what to say, as she didn't even know what to think about her actions... She didn't even could tell why she did that.

Ethan called her once, but as the red-haired girl kept on walking, ignoring him, he stayed at the hangar, somewhat frozen.

"Uuuuhhhh...", Ruth said when Mikenne walked past her side. "Cromwell 1, Reiha 0... a humiliating fall, my dear folks!", she added, mocking a TV sports anchor.

Ethan looked at his sister, with a mixed expression in his face. It was such an odd look, that even Ruth was surprised by it.

"What?", she just asked, her arms folded. "What's with that face?"

"You always surprise me to no end", Ethan admitted, chuckling. "This is the Ruth I've always known, the one I would love to see everyday, instead of that military-concentrated, stupid Marrek-fan/lover that you play almost every day here. The worst part is that you pop up in the oddest moments", he explained, laughing. "Why did you have to be yourself when I was arguing with Mikenne?"

"What? That was also bad?", the blonde woman asked, smiling at long last. "You two were perfect quarreling there, so I couldn't resist the temptation of being a nuisance... Besides, she deserved it... she ain't the queen of the entire complex, and someone had to bring her back to end... it was a wondrous surprise that you turned up being the one who did all that job... Guess you would never come back to your senses, twin", she said, ending up in a chuckle.

"Nor I thought you would return to your normal self... like when you still weren't here", Ethan replied back, reminiscent. The past always looked much better than the present he was living, in his opinion.

"Stop with that, Ethan, just... stop", the blonde-haired youth pleaded, sighing. "I know how things will come up if I let you go on with your yearning... so don't think about it. We are here, and this is what we have, okay?"

Ethan nodded, tired. "That's alright with me, but... where have we gone astray, sis?", he asked her, darkly. "Things weren't supposed to be like this... You weren't supposed to act like a cold-hearted being, nor I should be the crybaby... And still... look what things have made of us"

Ruth moved her mouth to both sides, sign that she was thinking deeply about something. "I can't answer that... life shapes us, I guess", she said, shrugging.

Ethan sighed, resigned. "That wasn't what I was expecting to hear, but it's better than nothing... I'll see you later, sis", he said, waving at her before leaving.

Ruth followed him with her eyes, lost in her thoughts. An idea has come to her head and now was refusing to leave. She shook her head, as if she could forget everything that way, and left the hangar, quickly.

* * *

Hazel came out from the corridor, shocked. Thankfully, Ares wasn't there, waiting for her to talk a bit more, only to hurt her even more. If he were to stay, he was either too brave, or he was just asking to be killed, as she would have pulled the trigger this time. There was no doubt about it. She didn't want to see him anymore, because every time she saw him, or remembered his existence, she thought back in the ones that weren't there because of his actions.

She didn't want to think about them, but they were always there, coming into the light of her consciousness each time she recalled the "accident". And as Ares was the one who made all that mess, his only name brought them all together to her mind.

She leant against a wall, trying to relax before going back to work. She was in no shape to start working right then, with all those memories haunting her...

She was fed up of travelling everywhere because of her father's job. His job as a raw materials supervisor made him to move from one place to the other rather frequently, carrying his family over with him. That way, Hazel had been all over the known system, having lived on Earth, Mars and Jupiter. Only the Moon hadn't been her home once. Despite all that, she never felt attached to any place.

She couldn't develop many friendships, as she was shy, and by the time she could get on well with someone, she would most likely leave that place, in order to move to another city, sometimes in another planet.

Apart from her shyness, prejudice was always on the air. Everyone would stare at her from head to toe, analyzing the "stranger", who didn't fit anywhere. Martians didn't like her because she was an Earthian, while on Earth people looked down on her because she had been living with the filthy Martians. On Jupiter, she wasn't taken into account because she wasn't from that planet, or from any of its collonies. Of course, that wasn't the case with every single person on those planets, but things went like that in a general way.

After some long conversations, her father had convinced his superiors to let him settle down on a certain place. As the company was already established and had found its raw material's suppliers thanks to his work, they accepted the deal. That way, Hazel now lived on Earth, from then on. Her father would have to travel from time to time, but he wouldn't drag his family with him, nor he stayed too much outside from his home.

Unfortunately for her, the damage had already been done, as she remained as a shy, silent girl. She was always expecting the others to look down at her, as she was different to them, from her expectations to her accent. She managed to make some acquaintances, but she didn't make any real friends. She always wondered how she would have been if she had had a more "normal" childhood. Anyway, she managed to establish some balance in her untidy life, with the help of her few acquaintances and her parents, who were eager to mend their fault for having dragged her all around the universe.

In 2173, her father was asked to go to Mars to take control of one of the raw material's processing factories, for an undetermined time. After long talks, the family decided that Hazel would stay on Earth, while the couple would travel to Mars. Her mother would return in a week or so, as she just wanted to make her husband some company until he settled down. As Hazel was in her last year of school, it would have been useless to move the entire family to Mars. Besides, she didn't want to move anywhere else, as she had got used to the Earthian life-style.

Now, she regretted her decission. If she had gone with them, she wouldn't have passed through all this... She would be dead with them, so she wouldn't have anything to worry about. Her life would be peaceful, in the eternal quiteness of death...

Her soft balance fall violently the day the Bonaparte III was attacked. She couldn't believe what she had seen in the news. She didn't want to believe it at first, so she started telling herself that that wasn't her parents's ship, but she knew it was. She dressed up quickly, as she heard the news when she was having breakfast, in her pajamas, and left for the spaceport, shocked. That wasn't happening to her, not at all.

But it was happening to her, after all. No one had survived the crash, and everyone talked about it as a "terrible accident". Some person gave her his or her condolences, then moved away, letting Hazel all alone in the world...

She was an ocean of tears, still shocked, uncertain about what she had to do from then on. Her mother and her father were the only thing she had left, as she had no grandparents and no close relatives on Earth. She didn't have any friends of her parents to ask for help, as they, too, had had problems to find friends wherever they went. So, she was all alone. That was enough to tear apart the soft balance she had made in her life.

No one helped her. Her father's company just gave her their condolences, and nothing else. Both Earth and Mars's governments started helping the relatives at the beginning, helping them out with money and giving a free psychological assistance service, then they left them alone once more, without saying anything. Then, they start blaming each other of the once called accident, which then came into light that it had been a terrorist act. Mars blame Earth because the ship had been attacked to damage the Earthian scientist and general Zephyrs, and Earth blamed Mars because the terrorists were Martians, part of BAHRAM. But no one investigated much. The Hellespontos government just made a monolith in memory of those who had died on the crash, but then they didn't anything else. The media paid attention to the case for some time, then they moved onto some new topics, like the entire Aumann incident. Soon, the entire Bonaparte III incident fall into forget.

Hazel had been left all alone, everyone giving her their back. It didn't take her much to become anti-social, staying at her home only to go to the Spaceport to get more news, or to attend the psychological sessions that were held there. However, she wasn't the only one all alone. Like her, many other people had lost the rest of their family. There were widows and widowed-men, there were orphans, there were distroyed families at each step. Thousands of dreams have been lost, thousands of hopes and lifes shattered. They would all need so many time to recover from that shock...

She started skipping school. Well, that was a way to say it, because she wouldn't even get up from her bed. Until her uncle -Cynthia's father- came, and took her to Mars, so she wouldn't be all alone. He had to sedate her to be able to travel back to his home, because she didn't want to get near a spaceship, let alone the fact of boarding it.

Her stay on Cynthia's house ended up being more troublesome than what her uncle and aunt had expected. Hazel had never had a good relationship with her aunt and uncle -on the other hand, she get on well with Cynthia-, because of some old troubles between her parents, and it wasn't the most appropriate time to start a relationship with a girl that had lost everything. Hazel's despair and anger towards the world soon collapsed against her aunt Jane's quick-temper, and soon, the once peaceful home became a living nightmare. None of them were to blame completely, but it was clear that they couldn't live under the same roof.

She stayed with her cousin for a month or so, until she considered that she was better, and then she asked to leave. Realizing that they couldn't stop her, her uncle found her a cheap apartment in another neighborhood, as Hazel didn't want to travel back to Earth, due to the phobia she had developed against spaceships. On the other hand, her uncle loved her enough to not let her all alone by herself in her state, when they still feared she would still do something against herself. So, he returned to Earth to bring some things Hazel had asked him to get her, and to get a permission from her school to take on-line classes, so she wouldn't loose the year.

And that way, Hazel stayed on Mars, receiving psychological attendance. She managed to progress a little, but she was still at the defensive, fearful of being hurt, with no one around to help her. Right after she finished her studies, she start looking for a job. She worked in several places for a few months before getting employed at Corindon Labs, where she met Arantxa. And then, she met BIS and Ares, due to that damned job...

Hazel sobbed, desperately. That bastard kept on popping in her mind all the time. It was exactly like after the accident, when she would wake up at the middle of her sleep after terrible nightmares. Only that this times, she wasn't sleeping, but her life was like a big, hideous nightmare.

"Hazel, are you alright?", Arantxa asked, her placing her right hand over her shoulder.

Hazel blinked, trying to return to real life. The black haired young woman was looking at her concerned, after noticing that she wasn't looking good when she happened to walk by that passage. She had called her some times before, but Hazel didn't noticed her. She was too busy with her pain...

"Where... where have I gone astray?", the light-blue haired girl asked softly, still sobbing. "Was there a path written for me and I walked away from it, or there never was such a thing?"

Arantxa looked at her puzzled. "What are you talking about?", she asked, worried. Only then she decided to examine her. On Hazel's right hand, she found the gun given to her by the spaceport, for self defense cases.

"You didn't killed him, did you?", she asked Hazel energetically, scared. She knew that someone without anything to loose could do everything, ut she didn't consider that Hazel had reached that state.

"No... I couldn't. I had my finger in the trigger, but I couldn't pull it", the gray eyed girl replied, monotonously. "And I can't do it with myself, either. I had already tried before... I wonder why I can't end this path...", she said, her eyes moving slowly until she could see the gun.

Arantxa, afraid, pulled out the gun from Hazel's face and threw it away, nervously. The gun was now some meters away, but Hazel didn't move. She just stared at it, without any expression.

Arantxa, still fearful, hugged Hazel tightly, as motherly as she could. The light-blue haired youth didn't do anything else but crying, shocked.

* * *

Ruth was in her room, sitting on her bed, thoughtfully. Almost desperately, she started looking for something in her jacket. After some seconds, she finally found her cigarettes box, with the lighter inside. She lighted the cigarette, and started smoking, enjoying every pit.

She wasn't a casual smoker, not even a social one. Something was wrong with her, as she just used to smoke when she was feeling unease or rather anxious. It helped her to relax and to see things clearer. But seeing things clearer made her think too much, and that wasn't good for her. Every time she started thinking much about something, her mood would get worse, and she would end up analyzing her entire life. That analysis always ended up spoiling her mood.

She went on smoking for some moments, watching at the smoke going up, but without seeing it. Her mind wasn't there, but someone else.

Just as she finished her cigarette, she threw it to the floor, and got up from her bed quickly. Mechanically, she went to her closet, and started looking for something. Soon, she found what she wanted, and returned to her bed with a wooden, medium-sized box. Ah... good, old wooden box from her home country... it was a rather fine box, truth to be told. But she didn't care much about the box itself, but for the things stored inside of it.

Leaving her bag of cigarettes aside, she sat down on her bed and opened the box, after clearing the dust over it. At first glance, that box was a terrible mess, only compared to the things that Pandora's Box held. Could it be that Ruth's hope was the only thing that remained in that box, as well?

There were lots of old things on that medium box. Quickly, she started picking them and leaving it by the side of the box. Soon, the bed was filled with little toys and things from her childhood. She barely paid attention to them, as she was clearly looking for something else. Her thin fingers moved quickly, searching for a certain thing.

She came across with a photo of her and her twin when they were in kindergarten. She giggled at that image. They looked funny, wearing the green kindergarten overalls, in the middle of the school ground. She laughed at her brother's appearance, with that "cup-like" haircut. It made his head bigger than what it was... she always ended up laughing at that when she found photos of that period. Anyway, Ethan would take his revenge by telling her that she looked stupid with her two-pigtails. Looking at that photo, Ruth would have to agree with him, but she wouldn't admit it openly...

She stared at that photo for some moments... it reminded her of an age when she was free and innocent, and when she didn't feel the need to excel over the others... It made her whole self-ache, the only memory of those days... Why did she change so much since she was a child? The girl in the photograph didn't look like her, like the one she was now. She had been a happy child once...

Ruth left that photo over the bed as if it burnt her, unease. It wasn't the one she was looking for. She returned to the box, looking for the special one. After some photos more, she found the one she was looking for.

Ruth stared at a photograph of a smiling couple, which turned up being her parents in their middle-twenties, before they married and had the twins. It had been taken in some sort of military base, as some type of military vehicle could be seen, yet it couldn't be told which vehicle was. They were hugging each other, smiling broadly. They were having a great time, there was no doubt about it.

The blonde-haired woman smiled, but couldn't help feeling sad. Her sight went back to the kindergarten photo of herself and her brother, then it returned to her parent's shot. Everyone was happy in those photos, and were now a mere reminder of the long gone good times. She wondered what her parents expected from her. She had never asked them, but she always tried to make them proud.

That had been the problem with her. She wanted to make her parents proud at all costs. She didn't have any troubles with Ethan, because he would let her "win" if some point of comparison could be applied to the twins. Maybe their good relationship was firmly based in that, because he wouldn't complain. He didn't care if he was first or second, unlike her, who always wanted to be the first one. So, she was a happy child, as she didn't have any competitor to care about.

When she started school, her competitive nature became more evident. She would secretly get mad at herself if any other kid -especially a girl- were to be better than her, so she made her best to excel in everything. She was both good on sports and in class, earning that way a good position over her classmates. Even if she wasn't the brightest student in class, she managed to be in the first positions, believing that her parents would feel proud of her. They were proud of her, indeed, but not only because of her achievements, but because she was their daughter. They weren't disappointed with any of their two children, but Ruth kept on thinking that she had to give them reasons to be proud of her.

Her entire school life became a struggle to show how good she was. Sometimes it was hard, while other times were easy to show her superiority. She wouldn't go around enumerating her victories, she just enjoyed them silently. That way, she wasn't entirely hated by the rest of her companions, and she managed to make friends. She seemed good in everything, at some point.

When she was fifteen, her father died, leaving them alone with her mother. It was an unexpected event, and it shocked them all, as no one -especially her father- expected that day to come so soon. In her father's death, she found another reason to become better than the rest: now that her father was gone, she had to do everything to make him feel proud of her, wherever he was- and to comfort her widowed mother.

And that way, she convinced herself that she had to excel in whatever she could. She didn't show it clearly, so people still coped with her.

A few weeks after she and Ethan had finished their compulsory education, an old friend of their father paid them a visit, and asked them if they didn't want to join the same group their father had joined when he was alive. Ruth, impulsive as ever, accepted at once, thinking that that would help her to be somewhat nearer her father. It was an opportunity she just couldn't let go. Ethan, on the other hand, took some days before accepting. He had to think it well before following his quick-decision-maker twin.

There, she showed how skilled and great she was, and some people even compared her to her father, thing that made her really proud. Ethan wasn't a bad pilot, but he just lacked that need of getting better that Ruth had in excess.

Soon, she was asked to go on a mission, and she accepted immediatly. There, she met Marrek, and her world never returned to what it was before that mission. Mad about that lovely, nice green-haired youth, she accepted his offer to work for him. She doubted a little before accepting, as she would betray her father if she were to leave the forces, but it was time to think in herself, also. So, she followed Marrek, and that way, she joined the BAHRAM.

It amazed her to no end to see her brother in a Vascilian base some weeks later. How could he have done that? He was always behind her, so she just thought than "poor little Ethan" just needed her, like always.

She was soon regarded as a promising OF runner in BAHRAM, and she even made it to win Marrek's heart. Everything was perfect, even if she had to sacrifice some things to reach the place where she was now. The only thing that could ruin her happyness everyday was Ethan's reaction towards Marrek. That had been something like "hate at first sight".

However, her little paradise crumbled in front of her eyes soon, with the arrival of Mikenne. She had been transferred from another base to train all the newbies in OF maneuvering. She had even been in the Antilia Raid a year before, so she was expecting to meet a late-twenties, early thirties woman, rather than the one year older youth she happen to meet...

One by one, her achievements turn to dust when Mikenne came into action. She was a far better runner than she was. Everyone had a high opinion of the dark red-haired woman, and she was always on the spotlight, relegating Ruth to the shadowed second place, a place that didn't existed in her life conception, until then. When she realized it, she wasn't the best runner in the squad, nor she had Marrek's affection, who had just dumped her to go after Mikenne, who didn't care about him. What's more, her own twin was starting to befriend and like the newcomer...

Ruth had to work even harder to get back what that damned girl had taken away from her so effortlessly. But she kept on failing. For the first time, she tried to do things well with all her heart, and things didn't come up as she expected them. She remained as the second best runner, and Marrek kept on ignoring her. Soon, her efforts were for nothing, as she wouldn't even be the second best. She started failing more, and more. Soon, she was just an average runner, while she kept on trying harder.

That was enough reason to hate Mikenne, apart from the fact that she didn't like her the first time she saw her. How could she act so coldly, and despise everything she had? Ruth couldn't understand her, as Mikenne had everything she had worked hard to have. What's more, Mikenne had it for free, as she had to do little to none effort to manage things. Life wasn't fair, but who said it was?

And now, in the silence of her room, Ruth realized that her life was aimless. She didn't know what she wanted. She didn't even know how she wanted to be. In her efforts to become better, she became bad-tempered, trying to show everyone how bad she could be if she wanted. That was another one of the things her brother couldn't forgive her, and that he would end up criticizing her every time he could. Hell, he was right, but she didn't want to admit it...

She left everything behind, and now, she was in the middle of nowhere, with nothing left to comfort her, but her own sadness and loneliness, and the bitter feeling of failure and a wasted period of her life... and the tears that she now shedding, defeated by the entire situation.

Ruth wiped away her tears with her arm, as she left on her bed the photo. What had gone wrong? Where did she walk away the path she had in front of her eyes? Could she go back to it if she made her best to remember the way back?

She felt all-alone in that silence, with no one to talk to. She couldn't talk to her brother because he was way far too sensitive than her, and he would start with a philosophical rambling that would take days, or he would just start nagging her. Then, there was no one she could talk to...

She started putting all the photos and memories of her past back in the box, with her eyes lost, almost as lost as her soul was at that moment. She had gone astray because she had wanted it. Now, she wanted to go back as soon as she could.

Suddenly, she started moving her fingers quicker than before, and once everything was back in its right place, she went to her closet and put the box were it belonged. She picked her jacket and left, making the less noise she could. In a couple of minutes, she was outside the base, running a LEV to some unknown destination.

* * *

Mebius was the last one in getting out from her frame, as well as the last one in coming to the main room, where Lia was waiting for her and for Warren, impatiently.

"Well, we are all here, aren't we?", Robin asked, tired.

"Without counting Ares and Yukito, who hadn't shown up in the battle", Twede replied her, sitting next to her.

"Where's Ares?", Myona asked, worried. She hadn't noticed that her brother hadn't been in the battle. She was too busy trying to get some comfort in the shared cockpit of the Niké. "Don't tell me he had gone to the Spaceport?", she asked, fearfully.

Mebius didn't answer, as she kept on playing with her little child. She hoped the light-haired youth was okay. Why wouldn't he be fine, she thought. Hazel wouldn't kill him, no matter how mad she would be.

"He must have gone for a walk", Razma proposed, shrugging. "He sure needed one"

"Alright, let's wait for an hour or two, and if he doesn't come, we'll split up and start looking for him", Robin said, coming from the hangar with a disk in her hands. "Now, it's time to talk about this", she said grinning, leaving the disk over the table.

"What's on it?", Twede asked, grabbing the black material.

"There's some info that the Mars Angels gave us after the battle. They got it from Hazel's former workplace", Robin explained him briefly.

"Whatever it's inside, it must be troublesome for BAHRAM, because the siblings and their other friend were there", Razma said, chuckling.

"I'm glad ya' could actually merge two concepts into a good idea", Semyl teased him, laughing.

"Thanks. That's something you still have to learn", Razma replied, distant.

"Why, ya'...!", Semyl glared at him, angrily.

"Stop, kids, please!", Robin interrupted the incoming fight, tired. "Wait until the meeting is over, then you can quarrel all what you want, and no one would complain"

The two red-hairds shut up, glaring at each other, as they hated being treated like little children because of their "arguments". Each one was convinced that the other one was to blame.

"Alright, let's continue", Robin said, smiling. "Do you think you can decipher the data, Twede?"

"Of course", her black-clad secretary replied, slightly annoyed by that lack of faith on his skill. "It's only a matter of time before I can crack that data and get what it's inside"

"Alright, then start working on it as soon as you can", she asked him, politely, yet firmly.

"When did I leave something for another time?", Twede said, almost joking, as he stood up and walked to one terminal in the main room.

"Alright, I think it's time to take a well-deserved rest, folks", the light-haired BIS boss said, stretching her arms. "If any of you happen to wake me up, you'll get punished severely", she warned them, joking, as she left for her room to take a nap.

"Robin", Twede called her, before she walked much further.

"Yes?", she said, walking back.

"Do you know something about that Hazel?", he asked, as he started cracking one of the disk's codes.

"We could answer that", Cynthia said, getting into the conversation -as he wasn't talking privately to Robin, she could say whatever she wanted-, and pointing to Semyl and Myona, besides of her. "She's working at the Spaceport"

"That's why I hope that my brother hadn't gone there", Myona whispered, worried.

"And what about the frame?", Twede asked.

Cynthia glared at him briefly. It seemed to her that he was just interested in the frame, rather than in her cousin. Well, he never seemed interested in people, so it wasn't surprising, coming from him.

"She said she destroyed it", Myona replied, absent-minded.

"What!", the eldest members asked astonished, with the exception of Twede.

"Aye. She said she made it blew up", Cynthia answered, using her so-beloved, yet not own Scottish dialect. "And she looked pretty sure of that"

"Can she actually do that?", Mebius asked, hugging Lia, as if she could protect her from the outside world that way.

"She was too serious when she said it", Cynthia repeated, shrugging.

"That's highly suspicious", Twede said, rubbing his chin. "Did she look injured, or something like that?"

"Nope, at least not in a way we could tell", Semyl said, worried. "Why?"

"Because I think it's highly improbable that she could do something like that and not get injured", Ywede said, suspiciusly.

"Well, she could have used some explosive", Razma suggested. "Dynamite, TNT... a home-made bomb"

"I wouldn't like to be around if an OF were to explode", Cynthia said, sweating nervously because of her cousin's wird ideas.

"That's why I think it's improbable", Twede said. "We would have known if an OF would have exploded"

"Well, maybe she sold it, and she said that she had blown it up, only ot make us angry", the red-haired male said, shrugging.

"It could be...", Robin said, thoughtfully.

Just then, the door opened, and a tired looking Ares came in, head lowered.

"Ares!", Myona exclaimed, running to his meeting as soon as she saw him coming in. She hugged him tightly, happy and finally relieved that her brother was safe and sound.

Ares hugged her back, without much strength. He was really tired, both physically and psychologically, so everything looked more difficult or bigger than what it actually was. He just wanted to close his eyes and find everything as it was a few days ago, when he opened them back.

"Where have you been?", his sister finally asked her, concerned.

He took a deep breath before answering her back. "I went to the Spaceport, to try to talk to Hazel", he said, sighing. "I couldn't say much, though"

"How was she?", Cynthia asked, worried.

"She just kept on asking me to get out, and she's still mad at me, so I can't tell much", Ares said, hiding the fact that she had pointed at him with a gun. That would have been like naking her in front of her companions. "Not that I blame her, actually. Idon't even accept me myself, so..."

Everyone kept silent, not knowing to say. They couldn't tell him that he hadn't done anything to her, because it wasn't true, even if he had already apologized about that. But they couldn't keep on blaming him, because he had tried to repair his error, even with his own life. He was just in such a sticky situation.

Luckily for Ares, the door opened again, and Yukito came in, this time, wearing a light suit, with a light green shirt. It was just a rare thing to find him wearing suits, that everybody chuckled at his appearance, as soon as they saw him.

Razma couldn't bear it for much longer and was the first one to burst into laughter. "What happened to you? Is it already Carnival?", he asked, amidst his laughters.

Semyl had to bit her lips to stop herself from laughing out hard. It was just a funny thing to see Yukito dressed up like that!

Yukito frowned, annoyed. He kept on praying on his way back to the Saoshyant that everyone were outside when he came in, but much to his disappointment, it turned out the exactly opposite way. "Very funny", he said at last, mockingly. "I'm not wearing this because I wanted to, but because I just had to", he explained, sighing.

"What? You lost a bet?", Razma asked, still in laughter.

Yukito arched an eyebrow, tired of his younger companion's jokes. "No", he replied, seriously. "My father wanted to talk to me, and since the meeting was at HBC, I just had to wear this", he said, pointing at his suit. "At least, I could still wear my glasses", he said, now pointing to his so-beloved blue glasses. He was really thankful for that. If everyone was in laughter -or containing it- because he was wearing a suit, he didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if he hadn't his glasses with him...

"Well... so that's why you look... differently", Robin said, smiling. "Well, now I'm really going to take a nap, so don't wake me up, unless you could decipher the data that the Angels gave us", she said, already walking away.

"Angels?", Yukito asked, confused.

"The Mars Angels", Warren explained, now that Robin was gone. "We happened to help them to get rid of the BAHRAM runners, right where Hazel's Labs are. They gave us what they found there"

Yukito's expression changed from tiredness and annoyment to one of anger. "Could it be?", he asked to no one in particularly, sort of furiously. "Why is it that when we met those cuties, I'm never around, uh?"

Everyone looked at him puzzled at first, but as soon as Razma started laughing, everyone bursted into laughter, under Yukito's glares...

* * *

Mikenne sat down in the cafeteria, and left her recently made cappuccino on the table. She left it there, waiting for its heat to go down a little, because if she were to drink it right away, she would burn her throat for sure.

She stared at the coffee, watching the coffee's fume went up. Not that she was interested in that, at all. It was just that the entire incident with Ethan made her think about her life...

He was right, she had changed, buy so did he, so does everyone. If she had change for the worse... well, it was a possibility, but it was her problem, not his. After all, she was going to be the one who suffered the consequences, or was not?

But she couldn't find an explanation for her behavior earlier. She didn't know why she started attacking that blue-haired guy, and why she couldn't stop attacking, even when he couldn't keep standing. He was no match for her, and she kept on attacking as if she had been surrounding by an entire army, without escape. But this time was just that guy and her, and she wasn't at the verge of death. She couldn't understand that. She wasn't under no one else's control, but her own, and yet... she hadn't been her usual self in the battlefield that day.

She couldn't understand why she couldn't stop attacking that blue-haired youth, who wasn't a threat to her. She had already won the battle from the psychological aspect, as her Ifrit was an exact copy of Testament. Even if Cage's Will had another tricks than the original Testament, the Ifrits were more of direct siblings, as they were made in the same year, and by the same institution. The Will would be a long lost half-brother under that point of view, or even a cousin.

Mikenne was now worried about herself. No one rang that "damned bell of doom", as she used to call that certain sound, so it was her the one that was fighting there. But she wasn't herself, on the other hand. Could it be that Metatron was starting to affect her finally, after so many years together?

She leaned down to try her coffee. It was still too hot for her tastes. She leant back on the chair, fearful that soon she would experience the "magic" of Metatron on herself. There was no other coherent reason for her acts ealier that same day, other than a long exposure to the still unknown material. It had to be that way. She recalled several gossips about runners who spent too much time on their frames. They all developed a love towards their OFs, and then they would start acting less humanly, only to end up like slaves of the machines. Maybe those were just some urban legend, a mere myth to relax the mind or to get rid of the weak soldiers, but it wasn't something so crazy. Colonel Nohman started acting strangely before the Aumann incident... And everyone knew that Radum Lavanz experienced some psychological disorders while running Idolo, the first Orbital Frame made, but soon people would just say that it happened because it was the first OF tested, and that there was some Metatron diffusion that harmed the runner. But how could they know, if there weren't any other frames made before that one? It was a risk they had to take...

It had to be Metatron what affected her in the morning. She saw what was happening, but she was thoughtless in the entire encounter. She came into consciousness when Ethan knocked her down, and she wasn't fully aware of what was happening then. She couldn't tell if what she was doing was wrong or not, she just kept on attacking...

She shook her head. She didn't want to be manipulated by Metatron. She was just a runner, not a Metatron slave. She didn't want to loose her human condition before a pile of Metatron. If only she could share her feelings with someone who knew her well...

She looked around, thoughfully. Once, the room that now was the cafeteria was the storage room, but as there wasn't as many people like in BAHRAM's golden days, someone decided it was better to move the cafeteria to a smaller room. Now, the cafeteria was a small room, with four or five tables with four chairs each, and a coffee machine, with no one to handle it, so it was more of an auto-service room rather than a cafeteria. The only thing that remained of it was the name.

Fighting and receiving orders were the only thing she knew well. Maybe that was the only reason why she stayed in BAHRAM, after the idealist dream of defending her home-planet from Earth's control died, as soon as she learnt and saw some attitudes in the Martian rebel group. That dream of freeing the planet of Earth's control was just a facade. The only thing that mattered was the power, and that brought money. Power and money, those were the only things that were important to BAHRAM's heads. She didn't need to lie to herself, because she knew that that was the same reason why Earth was so eager to silence the Martian rebels. There may have been some real social worries at the beggining, and in some people, but those idealists were either dead, or have left, disappointed. Not that they lasted for much time outside the rebel organization...

But things were like that all along this solar system, she knew it well. She would have had to be too naive to think that things in Earth were far better. They were the same, and who knows if they weren't worse...

She had been practically raised up in BAHRAM, as her parents were both runners. They had been from the earliest members, first running LEVs, then switching to OFs. They've met outside the organization, and joined it when she was a little child. Then, she had grown up between unmanned and human-controlled LEVs, and soon she met the powerful OFs, the Martian hope. So, she was used to that metal and Metatron made things, they were like her toys, instead of the dolls that "normal" girls used to have at an early age. Later, children would play video-games. Mikenne, instead, played "flight sim" and "runner sims". It wasn't a normal childhood, but at this day and age, what does stand for 'normal'? Being orphaned, or having lost some relative was "normal". If you still had your parents or haven't lost any relative, then you were the odd one out in the entire Solar System. Of course, that wasn't Mikenne's case.

She lost her father in an encounter with the UNSF, shortly after the Deimos incident, then she lost her mother in the Antilia Raid. Taking into account her skill and the intensive training she had received since she was a little child, she was asked to take her mother's place in the front. She accepted, of course. It wasn't the first time she had been in the battlefield, as she had already taken part in different missions before the incidents in Antilia. What's more, she was in the battlefield when her mother was killed, and she saw her frame falling down, but she had never been in the front lines before. She did an acceptable job, calling many people's attention.

Many considered her a future hope for BAHRAM and Mars, but as people started taking her more seriously, she started her process of disappointment. Nothing turned out as she expected. The entire "freedom to Mars" speech wasn't a demand for liberation and self-government, but a tall tale to hide the search of power. Once BAHRAM would get the control of Mars, then civil war would start, as the rebel force would break into little factions, all power-seeking. She was sure that that would happen sooner or later, and maybe even before getting rid of the UNSF. Only Colonel Nohman could gather the entire power under his wing, but if he were to disappear, then his so-beloved rebel group would become a dirty house of rats, eager to destroy everyone to get their "cheese".

But she knew that Earth wasn't that different. It would have been the most naive error of her life to believe that Earth's proclaims weren't a facade. Earth just wanted to monitor everything, get the raw materials or whatever she could get, and have the entire power, all for herself. There weren't many differences between Mars and Earth, after all they were all from the same Human race, like it or not.

If she hadn't abandoned BAHRAM, it was because being part of a rebel group was the only thing she knew. She could have escaped after Nohman's death and BAHRAM's fall, but she didn't. She could have easily pretended to be death, shot down by the UNSF during Aumann, but she didn't. She could have left after that incident, and offer her services to the UNSF, the "good guys", but that way she would have betrayed her parents by joining the enemy that they hated so much. Instead, she stayed, and she had to cope with the remnants of the distroyed force. This time, she didn't stay for that youthful idealism of changing the world. She had lost that long ago. She just stayed because she was used to that life.

Some months later, she was sent to Marrek's base, and there she met Ruth and Ethan. In a few months time, she was sent to another county with Ethan, and there they developed a slight friendship. It didn't developed into a strong friendship because she was always reserved, but Ethan liked her, anyway. She was grateful for that, at heart. After some months, he returned to Hellespontos, while she stayed in Elysium, until a few weeks ago, when she met him again...

He was right, she had changed. But there had been another time when she was different, even more different than when he first met her, and different of the Mikenne that was with him in BAHRAM's Elysium branch...

She scratched her head, and came by with her scar. That scar... her long, deep hidden scar. She wondered if things could have been different if she hadn't gave in... She would never know, that was for sure. But she also knew that it was just her fault. There was no one to blame but her. She have asked for that, no one obliged her... She hadn't regretted about what she had done, until today, when she realized that she couldn't be herself.

She shook her head, trying to forget that part of her past. She could do nothing about it. What she had done couldn't be repaired, and so it now belonged to the past. Leave the past with the other memories, and keep on living the best you could do.

She had changed. It was true, and she wouldn't deny it. But Ethan had changed, too. She couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not, yet. But he would leave her at ease if she asked him. Now, he wasn't going to do that. Now, he could ask her a thing until she gave him an acceptable answer...

She sighed at that thought. Sipping her coffee for the last time, she thought that maybe Ethan did the right thing by knocking her down in the battlefield. She should be grateful for having such a comrade in arms... Still, he shouldn't -no, he mustn't- mess around with her life. She didn't do that with his life, so he should do the same and let her do whatever she wanted, or whatever she could do. What's more, he had to stay away from her, because she would end up hurting him, in some form or another. She always hurt the ones she loved: her mother, her father, some certain someone... she didn't want Ethan to become another victim of her actions. And still... he tried to help her, but he just stressed her even more, without knowing.

She shook her head once more, and stood up, leaving her empty cup of coffee behind. She had enough of her self-psychology lessons. She had nothing else to do there, rather than sharing her pains with the coffee machine. But that would have to wait; she had had enough for the time being.

* * *

Hazel dropped behind whatever she had in her hand -literally, as some papers fall to the floor- and left the room, nervously, under the surprised look of her co-workers. No one attempted to follow her, that wasn't their business. Arantxa did, after picking the flying papers and leaving it on a desk.

The long, black-haired young woman started following the light-blue haired one. Her chase ended at the bathroom, where she found Hazel crying over a sink. She had already seen that image before, because Hazel found a hideout in the bathroom...

Arantxa sighed at the depressing image of the desperate Hazel. She wanted a way to stop the suffering of that girl, but it seemed there was no solution for it. If only she could stop thinking in that boy...

"Let him go", Arantxa told her, softly, motherly.

"I wish I can, but then all that pain and suffering come back to me, and they won't let me be... I wish I could let them go that easily, but they are just there...", the light-blue haired girl said, sobbing.

"I wasn't talking about your parents, Hazel", Arantxa interrupted her. "I was talking about Ares. If you can't just forgive him, then let him go. Let him be, and let yourself become something else than what you are now... You won't be able to handle this for much longer"

Hazel looked at Arantxa half puzzled, half angry. Was she implying that she actually felt something for Ares, because she couldn't help but thinking in him all the time? If that was the case, her black-haired acquaintance couldn't be more wrong, because she didn't want to be related in any kind with that mass murderer... Still, it was difficult for her to let him go, as he had been kind and supportive towards her. He was like the shoulder where to lean on that she had expected to find once, and he turned out being "the cause of all her problems". How could she forgive him, if he destoyed her life, torn apart her hopes, and anniquilated his hope on hummanity? And how could she let him go, if thinking in him made her think about her parents, and thinking about them made her think about Ares, too?

"Don't look at me like that, but it's the truth", Arantxa defended herself before Hazel said anything, or bursted into anger. "You can't cope with everything all alone, and you can't live thinking about him and what he had done for your entire life. I know that it must be a devastating experience, but try to get over it, and live your life for once and for all. Grieving won't bring back your parents to life, and they wouldn't like you to waste your life crying. So, let him be, and start living again, at least for their sake..."

Damned Arantxa was right at that point. She was wasting her life grieving, but she wasn't under the same situation as she was. Hazel sighed, trying to organize her thoughts. It's easy to say that you have to overcome problems, but when you are all alone, everything is harder. And being the shy, reserved person she was, it was easier to "swallow" her feelings than talking them out...

"It's easy to say it", Hazel said finally, seriously. "You haven't lost your parents, found yourself all alone in the world, and befriended their assassin... You don't think in your lost one ALL the time"

Just then, Arantxa had an idea. How didn't she think in that before? She patted herself in the back in her imagination, for she had found the way to distract the light blue-haired girl, at least for a while.

"What's happening?", Hazel asked her, surprised, as Arantxa grabbed her from her hand and dragged her out of the bathroom.

"Wait and you'll see", Arantxa said mysteriously, grinning. "You'll thank me later, you'll see", she said, walking along the corridors, holding the gray eyed youth's hand firmly, so she won't escape to the bathroom once again.

* * *

Mikenne left the cafeteria, still thoughtful. Now, she was going to hide in her room, unless she found something better to do. She didn't want to meet Ruth, who was going to harrass her about her behavior and how her brother humiliated her at the battlefield. And she didn't want to even hear talking about Ethan, as she didn't know what to tell him. And she didn't even want to remember that Marrek existed, so she the only way of not meeting any of those three people, was staying in her room, until she either starved or got too worried.

"Hey, Mikenne, wait a second!", Ethan called her from the other side of the corridor, with no hint of remorse or anger in his voice.

She did have bad luck, she already knew that. She felt better at Ethan's tone of voice, but she didn't want to talk to him yet. Not until she found some explanation for her acts.

"Hey, Mikenne, I'm calling you!", the light brown-haired youth repeated, hoping that this time she'd turn back.

But she wouldn't. "I don't want to talk to you!", she replied back, walking.

"Oh, please! Are you still mad at me?", he asked her, surprised. "Then, I should be the angry one! Can't we talk about it?"

"We'd already discussed this at the hangar, so leave me alone. There's nothing else to talk!", she said, going on walking.

"We still have some things left to talk", he insisted, walking in her direction. "Please, don't be so stubborn"

"That's my problem, thank you", she said ironically, without stopping. She wasn't going to stop, that was obvious by now, and she wasn't going to talk to him. It was her problem.

"Hell, can't you stop walking when someone's talking to you?", he said, now running to her. "I don't now what's wrong with you, but I want to help you. Why don't we go to the cafeteria and sat down there, quietly, and you tell me what's going through your head?", he offered her, grabbing her from her arm.

If she would have been a "normal" young woman, she would have accepted that offer. That young man she had behind her -because she wasn't going to turn back to face him- was being too patient and too kind with him. Someone else would have let her go to her room without asking anything. But he was there, with the clear intention of being of some help to her.

She closed her eyes wide shut, trying to put her thoughts in clear. It was her life, and those were her problems. Why did he want to mess up with them? She didn't need anyone to talk her problems, she had always resolved things by herself. And what was most importantly for her was the fact that she would end up hurting him. She always hurt her beloved ones. Her parents, her friends and BAHRAM co-workers, and some past special someone... she had hurt them all, in some way or another. She didn't want to hurt Ethan. If she were to start trusting in him, he would end up feeling betrayed by her, unwanted, or even dead. She didn't want to expose him to such danger. She didn't love him, but it was the best she could do for him, before starting to feel something for that kind guy. If she weren't to stop him now, that neither of them had strong feelings for each other, and that he just offered his help as a friend, then it would be too late in the future, in case they were to start feeling something. There was a slight possibility that he may never want something with her, but the risk was too big to even try that one.

So, it was better to stop him now, rather than never. It hurt her much that decision, but it was going to be the best thing she could ever do for him.

"Let me go!", she finally said, angrily. "What the Hell do you want of me? Leave me at ease!"

"Mikenne, I want to help you... just that", Ethan offered her again, trying to remain calm. "I won't judge you, I'll just listen..."

"You've already judged me at the hangar, so don't disturb me!", she told him, releasing her arm from Ethan's hand. "I've changed, for good or worse, only time will tell. You've changed, too! You would leave me alone if I asked you that, but now you keep on insisting! You should take a look at the needs of the others!", she said angrily, before walking away.

Ethan stared at her as she was walking away. This was the end. He didn't love the girl, but he wanted to help her. He didn't want her to become some self-centered, lonely woman. But his patience had a limit, and today, Mikenne had reached it, and she almost surpassed it. She was right, he had changed. He would have been more patient before, but not now. He felt sorry for her, but he wouldn't offer her his help anymore. If she was so strong to cope with everything herself, she would overcome everything, but he would have to make the biggest of efforts of not laughing right on her face when she were to fail. Alright, he wasn't that kind of person, but he would feel tempted of remembering her that he wanted to help her, and that she kicked him off.

It was going to be hard at first, but he would eventually learn how to deal with that rejection. Because things weren't going to be the same as they were until that day in the morning, when they went to the battlefield and she acted that strangely. The worst part of all was the Ruth had been right from the very beginning: Mikenne wasn't a good person. But not because of the same reasons his twin hold. This wasn't for jealousy. He felt that way about the dark red-haired runner because she didn't want anyone to be around her. She had to be mean, if she didn't want to help herself. Maybe she played that tape back at the other day fight, and stated attacking that blue-haired guy fiercely just because she wanted, and not because she didn't know what she was doing.

He had already decided it. This was going to be the end to any attempt to help Mikenne. He couldn't stand anything any longer. She would be the one who would feel bad about it later, not him. So, he turned back and started walking to his room, not caring about Mikenne anymore.

Mikenne stopped walking as soon as she heard his footsteps becoming softer, walking in the opposite direction. She barely turned back and saw that he was leaving, without saying anything. For the first time in years, she felt her heart breaking into little pieces. She had just lost the only attempt of friend she have had in years, and it was only her fault. It was that simple. There was no one else to blame but her. Maybe, if things have been different, she would have accepted his help. But things weren't as she would have desired them, so there was no point in whining about that.

But now that Ethan was walking away from both the corridor and her life, she was starting to feel guilty. She didn't want to be that rude, or to act that bitchy, but she had no other option left. She would end up hurting him sooner or later. But now she didn't want to loose him...

"I'm sorry...", she mumbled shyly, mostly unconsciously.

Unfortunately for her, it was too late. Ethan may have heard her, but he wasn't going to turn back. He was fed up, having had enough of that hysterical attitude of hers. He wasn't going to stop and turn back, just as she had done before. Again, it wasn't for revenge. It was for their own good.

Mikenne stared at him, understanding him at one point. She was grateful for his patience and for his friendly attitude, but everything has an ending. Their ending was at that moment. It was going to be hard to be alone at the base once more, but she would get used to that. She always did.

Slowly, she turned back and started walking to her room, where she would hide again...

All of a sudden, one of the doors that led to the corridor opened up, and Marrek came out of that room, clapping.

"What a great melodrama, it was stunning!", he said, sarcastically. "Tell me, Mikenne, I'm the father of your future baby?"

Mikenne turned back quickly and glared at him. "You've been listening to the entire conversation?", she asked him, annoyed.

"I hate to agree with her, but don't you have something better to do with your life, rather than listening through the walls?", Ethan asked him, pissed off. "When I say that you are a good for nothing I'm not only wrong, but I keep it short!"

"Whatever", Marrek said, not paying attention to his subordinates. "You two were shouting right here, next to the control room, where I happened to be... how do you want me not to overhear, especially when you make such a drama out of nothing? You two were just like a melodramatic soup-opera!"

Mikenne looked down, embarrassed and blushing. Why it had to happen all that to her? Couldn't she just get to her room and stay there?

"I don't care what you think, or if we were shouting or not", Ethan replied, annoyed. "What the Hell do you want? I have better things to do rather than being in a corridor, wasting my time"

"Yeah, yeah, I bet you have most important things to do", Marrek replied sarcastically. "Whatever, go outside and get some practice in your Ofs... you are worst than novice guys. You better get well prepared to go to BIS HQ and get the data you couldn't get earlier this day... I don't want to be ruined by some pop-star trio", he said, slightly nervously.

"Can't we leave it for another day?", Ethan asked, annoyed. "I have already had my OF doses for today, and I don't want to start thinking about what's right or wrong on the battlefield"

"I'm with him. I'm not going", Mikenne said, seriously.

Marrek chuckled. "You two are so funny... If you had done your job well, you wouldn't have to do it now, but as you failed, and argue with each other and all that shit, then you screw things up, and now you have to mend them, sooner or later", he said, angrily. "So, get going and train a bit before I..."

"You what?", Ethan asked him sarcastically. "Are you going to call us traitors and kill us?"

Marrek would have replied if Mikenne hadn't walked between them, in order to separate them before even start fighting. "Alright, we'll go... We always end up going, so why should we rebel right now?", she asked rhetorically, dragging Ethan away.

Ethan couldn't understand Mikenne, who didn't want anything to do with him, but who cared -little, almost nothing, but she cared for him- about him, as she always tried to keep him apart from Marrek. Unless she liked Marrek most and didn't want him to get hurt, but the light brown-haired youth was sure that that wasn't the case. Confused and annoyed, he soon started walking by his own means, and then started walking quicker than Mikenne, leaving her behind.

Mikenne, on the other hand, understood him. She couldn't blame him for his reaction towards her. After all, she was the one acting strangely.

Soon, they were gone, in their way to the hangar and to their frames, ready to start practicing more tactics and attacks to defeat BIS next time.

* * *

Ruth parked the civilian LEV outside the fuel station, and got out of it quickly, like she always did. She checked she had enough money with her, looking for her wallet in her pockets, desperately. It had to be the third time she had done it since she left the old BAHRAM base. Having found her wallet and checked the money she had with her, she got into the station's shop, and asked for a telephone cabin.

She was given cabin number 6. Six. Seven is the number that stands for perfection. Six, instead, meant something close to perfection. Life was playing sarcastic once again.

She wasn't going to complain at that, of course. That would have been too childish from her. Besides... she was starting to consider if perfection was just an ideal thing, something that didn't have roots in real life...

She sat down on the chair, and stared at the telephone. She was still hesitant about doing that call. But she was going to do it. She had done all that way there. Was she going to quit now?

Ruth let go a deep sigh before picking the tube, and started pressing the numbers. Her shacking fingers showed how nervous she was. But she wasn't going to hang down the phone.

Soon, it began calling. Each second was like an eternity. She still wondered if she was doing the best thing.

Finally, someone picked up the phone on the other side of the line. Ruth's heart started bumping faster than before.

"Hello?", a female voice asked, sounding from a far off place.

It was her, there was no doubt. No wrong number, no other persons with that line. Ruth sighed relieved.

"Hi, mum?", Ruth said, shyly. "It's been a long time..."

* * *

Arantxa walked in haste through the spaceport's corridors, smiling at everyone, and waving to her other co-workers she hadn't greeted earlier. She always tried to get on well with her new co-workers as soon as possible, in case she had to asked any of them any favour or something like that. So, she always tried to be nice to work-mates and strangers.

But that wasn't the strange thing in Arantxa that day, but the girl that she was dragging forward with her.

"Can't you let me go and let me walk naturally, rather than dragging me like this?", Hazel asked Arantxa nervously, embarrassed with the entire situation.

"Nope. I'm afraid that if I let you go, you'll just leave running and hide in the bathroom, once again", she said, smiling and waving to even more work-mates.

Hazel blushed, realizing that Arantxa was right in her thoughts. "But this is too embarrassing! Don't treat me like a little child!", she said, trying to get rid of Arantxa's somewhat strong arm, but failing.

"I'll stop ding that when you start acting like a grown-up", the black-haired girl replied, giggling. "Oh, come on, Hazel! You should be thanking me for this! Don't tell me that you are still thinking about Ares even now?"

Hazel looked down, defeated. Her companion was right. She had completely forgot about Ares and BIS's existence. She was just thinking that she was under one of the most embarrassing situations in her entire life. Right now, she wanted either to be released from Arantxa's "punishment", or to be swallowed by the Spaceport's floor, just to not be found ever again.

"Alright, just where are you taking me?", the light-blue haired youth asked, resigned.

"We are almost there, girl. Calm down"

"Yeah, surely", Hazel said sarcastically, wondering how could she relax under the astonished glance of several people, both passengers and workers.

A few seconds later, Arantxa told her, grinning even more widely. "See? I told you we were almost there", she said, opening a gray door with a hand, while she still grabbed Hazel's arm with the other.

They went into a medium-sized room, full of screens, computers and button consoles. In exchange for all that technology, it had a big window that led to one of the Spaceport's waiting areas, where passengers and relatives waited for the incoming or departing flights. In the middle of all that technology mess, a blonde-dyed woman was sitting, keeping an eye on each screen.

"Hi, Pat!", Arantxa greeted the woman in the middle of the room, surrounded by screens and papers. "How did you do today?"

"Oh, hi, Ara", Pat greeted her back, tired, turning back to face the newcomer. "It's been a tough day... nearly fatal. Have you come to replace me?", she asked, hopefully.

Arantxa smiled at her nickname. As everyone complained that "Arantxa" was either too odd or too difficult to pronounce, she had to shorten it, so the others could call her in a better, quicker name. So she was "Ara" for everyone at the Spaceport. She wasn't to blame for her Spanish descent, so they shouldn't complain, there are even more difficult names in the entire universe, but as most of her companions kept on begging for an easier name, she had to shorten it. On the other hand, it had been a good thing for her, too, as she didn't have to deal with bad pronunciations and with people complaining about her name. For one of those odd times, both sides were happy with the outcome.

"No, I haven't come to replace you, but this girl behind me", Ara said, pointing to Hazel, who tried to hide behind her back. Noticing this, the black haired girl picked Hazel by the hand and pulled her forward, saying, "Come on, don't be so shy! Patricia, this is Hazel. Hazel, she's Patricia, and now you'll replace her for some few hours while she takes a rest", she added after the introduction.

Needless to say, Hazel was astonished. "But... I don't even know what I have to do here!", she started complaining, but was soon interrupted by Arantxa.

"You have to learn all the jobs in this Spaceport, because we must be able to do everything in case someone doesn't come to his or her work, or a tragedy happens. What if you have to tell the people to get out of here and you don't know how to use this machines, uh?", she asked her, seriously.

"Alright, but I don't know how to use this things!", the light-blue haired youth complained again, nervously.

"There's a first time for everything", the black-haired older youth replied, solemnly. "You must pay attention to that left screen incoming messages, then you announce them to the passengers by microphone. That's basically all"

"It may be overwhelming and difficult at the beginning, but once you get used to it it's easier, yet tedious", Pat told her, tired.

"See? You just have to pay attention. It isn't that difficult", Arantxa said, smiling.

"If it isn't that difficult, then why don't you do it?", Hazel asked her, annoyed.

"Because I'm not the one who has to keep her mind busy", Ara replied her, grinning. "Besides, you won't be able to escape to the bathroom, so you won't remember that you are depressed and all that. Well, guess it's all for now, isn't it, Pat?"

"Aha, we have told her the basics. She'll get by with that", the blonde-dyed woman replied nodding.

"Then, let's go. Good luck, Hazel!", she said, waving at her before closing the door. "Hey, Pat, why don't we go and have some coffee? You must be exhausted...", she said, already in the corridor, but still loudly enough for Hazel to listen to it.

"I'll love that!", Pat replied, enthusiastically. "I'm starving... my stomach is hurting so much..."

"Arantxa, I hate you so much...", Hazel mumbled under her breath, angry with her Spanish-descent acquaintance. She was now amongst an ocean of screens and computers, clueless about what she had to do next.

Anyway, she didn't have much time to complain and curse her life, as an incoming message came from one of the monitors. Flight 604 from Athens, on Earth, was about to land. Its passengers would come into the spaceport through gate 8B-A.

She looked at the screen hopelessly, then she stared at the microphone. She reached it nervously, trying to find a good speech to announce the flight.

"Look out!", Hazel shouted, somewhat terrified.

Bad start. She could see from her window how some passengers, astonished started looking all over the Spaceport, wondering from where that voice came from and why it said what it said.

"Uhm, er... I'm sorry!", she said quickly, puzzled. "Flight 604 is landing. Please, head to gate 8B-A. Thank you. Flight 604 is landing on gate 8B-A. Thank you for your attention"

Embarrassed, Hazel dropped the microphone. She didn't have much time to waste either relaxing or insulting Arantxa, as another incoming signal started beeping on the screen. It was going to be a long afternoon...

Somewhere else in the spaceport, Arantxa giggled at Hazel's inexperience, after her quick and shy apology.

* * *

Ruth got into the hangar and parked her borrowed LEV, feeling as if she had been reborn. She thought that Ethan would be really proud of her right now. She couldn't wait the moment to see her twin again, just to see if he noticed something strange in her. He would feel proud of her when he realized that she decided to change, this time for good.

She drove the LEV to one of the empty spaces on the hangar. Much to her disappointment, Marrek was there, waiting for her, apparently. If there was one person she didn't want to see was him. Bad luck.

Slowly, she parked the LEV, then she took her time to get out from it. It was as if she were delaying Marrek's meeting as much as she could.

"Good evening", the green-haired man greeted her sarcastically. "Did you hurt your head badly last time and you forgot everything, or you still haven't learnt that you have to ask permission to leave the facility, especially if you are going to use borrowed goods?"

"Sorry, it was an emergency", Ruth apologized, rolling her eyes. She didn't even stopped to talk to him, but went on walking, heading for her twin's room, in order to tell him the news she had.

"I don't know what can be more urgent than talking to me before leaving", Marrek added, still sarcastically and offended. "You used to be a good soldier, Ruth..."

Ruth stopped coldly at that statement. "Just shut up!", she told him, turning back and walking to his side. "That's the only thing I've ever been for you, uh? Just a soldier, someone who would take your orders without any complaints, or hesitations... I won't do that anymore, do you hear me? I won't follow your orders anymore, because you just sit here, say loads of shit to use, treats us badly, without doing anything. Why don't you go out to the battlefield, instead of telling us how much we suck? I don't recall having seen you aboard an OF, so that must be because you suck more than the three of us together!", she told him, angrily.  
It had been an unconscious outburst, but those were some of the things that she needed to take out of her. Now, she could realize that she was feeling even better than when she returned a few minutes before, but she was also fearful of Marrek's reply.

Much to her surprise, the green-haired base leader didn't say anything, but looked at her from head to toe, then made a mysterious grin. Sighing, he said, "Anything else you would like to say about me? If not, get into your frame and go and help your brother and Mikenne, who are getting more practice out there"

"Can't we leave it for another day?", she asked sarcastically. She didn't want to have anything to do with a frame for the rest of the day. That morning battle has been enough for her.

"Of course not, stupid!", Marrek yelled at her, out of his usual self. "What are you waiting for?"

Ruth didn't pay much attention to her superior's anger, and got into Castor quickly. It would be quite suicidal to tell him that she wouldn't run under his command anymore, so she just obeyed silently. In a few minutes, she would be in her way to meeting her twin and that red-haired runner.

Marrek stared at her frame until it wasn't visible anymore. Things were starting to get out of his control. His small army was rebelling, one by one. He never had Ethan under his control, but now, the girls pretended to act by themselves, and both in the same day. First Mikenne, now Ruth... He had to think in something to show them that he was still the one in charge, and that he was still a better runner than those three together or on their own.

* * *

Hi there! Another long chapter (sorry for that). Well, I don't have much to say about it... so, Happy Easter! (Although I don't think you'l read it be Easter... hahaha) 


	18. Prelude to the Fall

Chapter 18 - "Prelude to the Fall"

Marrek called his group, once again. Slowly, the three runners started showing one by one.

Much had happened since the last attack. Ruth was turning into a smiling person, much to everyone's surprise. She started teasing people, and she wouldn't take any of Marrek's words seriously at all. That made Ethan happy, and so he was also smiling everywhere, and his joking nature would fade away every time he came across Mikenne, who wouldn't even stare at him. The fact taht Ethan and Mikenne were ignoring at each other made Ruth happy, and that way, her smile never faded away. It would just grew into a sarcastic smile each time she saw Marrek, though.

Many things had happened, and now Marrek wondered what would happen on the battlefield. He had make them practice more, and if he were to judge from the tests, he wouldn't have to worry, because their team work on the battlefield was the same than before. However, the green-haired base leader was worried.

"Alright, today's the day", he said, once his three best runners were on the room. "You'll go and attack BIS hiedout, and don't return until there's no trace of them", he said, waving at them, dismissing them.

Ruth arched an eyebrow. "And where are they, if we can know? Or do we have to start shooting at the wasteland?"

Ethan chuckled, feeling proud of his twin. Finally, she came into her senses and started to mock their imbecile leader. It was just a pity that it had taken her a long time to realize the truth.

Marrek sighed, feeling pity for himself for being surrounded by idiots. "Let's see, Ruth", he started talking as if he was explaining something to a six-year-old kid. "Do you remember that we had kidnapped the Niké frame with its runner?"

"Of course I do", Ruth said, sarcastically. "I also remember that you let her go, without doing anything about it, and without allowing us to retrieve it back, once again"

"One of the worsts strategies I have ever seen or heard", Mikenne added, thinking out loud, as she didn't intended to say it.

Marrek acted as if he hadn't heard her. "Well, while you three think that it was useless and strategically stupid, I have to tell you that I did a superb job there, installing a tracer on the frame. Now we know where their mobile fortress is. I say mobile because it keeps on changing its location. So... now I think it's the time to go and pay them a visit"

The three runners were slightly surprised. They hadn't expected that move from their superior. It was somewhat childish and cliché, but it still worked out, given the circumstances. Still, Cynthia's kidnapped had been a bit out of place, if he just wanted to put a tracer on her frame. He could have told them to install it during battle, as it just consisted in throwing it at the enemy and making sure that it stayed on its place, and nothing more. He could have let her go without the frame, rather than letting him escape with the frame. That way, they would just have to retrieve only one frame, instead of two. Or he could have exchanged the student for the other frame. Yes, there were many more intelligent options that the one that Marrek had chosen... But he was the one in command there...

Mikenne blinked twice, like every time she was surprised and annoyed by something. "So they did all that fuss just to let you install a tracer, that can be installed during a battle?", she asked him, making reference to the Cromwell twins, who had used their "Fishermen" weapon to grab the OF. She was indignated with Marrek's plan: it was silly, outdated and not brilliant at all. The kidnapping had been in vain, and it only stressed people more... but who was she to talk in behalf the enemies, if she had a sudden, incontrolable need of attacking the enemy, even when he was no match to her?

Realizing this, she didn't go on further with her complaints, or Marrek would say the same thing she had just thought a second before.

Marrek sighed, annoyed of his team's incompetence. "I just wonder why I keep on working with you..."

"Easy: we are the only ones left", Ruth interrupted him, annoyed. "The other runners are amateurs, compared to us... and there aren't many of those, though", she added, making emphazis in BAHRAM's decadence, something that she knew that Marrek hated. Now, she was enjoying the sweet taste of revenge... revenge for having dumped her, and for ignoring her... Now that she had her mind in order, she could enjoy that revenge, until she could get out from that filthy rebel group, which would be that same day, if she was going to be at the battlefield. It was her little secret, as not even Ethan knew her intentions. She planned to tell him at the battlefield, where it would be easy to escape, in the confusion of the battle. She knew he would feel proud of her...

Marrek's voice called her back to reality. "You can keep your sarcasm for yourself, Ruth", he told her, annoyed. Something was wrong there, he could tell it easily because Ruth had become an opponent, rather than the usual silent slave she was to him until not so many weeks ago. Something was going on her head. He would have to analyze that later, not now.

"I wanted you to kidnap that girl to put BIS in trouble, to screw up their psychological state. That way, it's far easier to defeat the enemy... Disintegrate their union, and they'll start quarrelling with each other, and they won't care if they are attacking an ally or an enemy, because everyone will be an enemy", he explained, smiling satisfied.

Ruth stared at him, puzzled. "Don't tell me that you already knew that the Lenneth-type... sorry, the light blue haired girl had her parents killed at that Bonaparte incident..."

"... and decided to play the tape just to 'screw up their psychological state'", Ethan continued, as surprised as his sister. "Quite... mean, if you ask me, using elegant words", he added, annoyed. If he were in Marrek's place, he wouldn't waste his time in that kind of attacks.

"I didn't know that... but it had been a pleasant bonus", the green-haired leader admitted, chuckling. "I was told that that tape had juicy information, but I never thought that it was THAT juicy"

Mikenne looked down, embarrassed. After all, she had been the one who played the tape and the one who brought it in first place. She didn't know what it had inside, but she had to realize that it wouldn't be something that would make a good action. However, handing it over to Marrek was an order, and following orders was the best thing she had ever done.

Marrek noticed Mikenne's embarrassment, and smiled victoriously. If he couldn't have her, then he would make her life impossible. However, he didn't took the opportunity to tease her, even if he knew that Ethan wouldn't defend her. They had barely talked to each other since the last time at the battlefield... He had to congratulate himself for having splitted their friendship, even if he hadn't done anything about it... While they don't start arguing in the middle of an attack, everything was fine to him.

Whatever, it was time to work, so he started clapping to wake up his "zombies army". "Alright, what are you waiting for? Get your butts moving!", he dismissed them, annoyed.

Even more annoyed than him, the three runners turned back, walking to the hangar in order to get into their frames and do what their leader said. Not because they respected him, but to keep his mouth closed, at heart.

If anyone had paid attention to Ruth, they would have noticed something different in her. A slight smile on her face and her shinning eyes weren't that usual, but they matched with her thoughts. She apologized and told Mikenne and Ethan to go ahead, as she had to go and pick up something.

Back in her room, she picked her jacket and searched for something in the closet. Having found her wooden box, she rushed to the hangar, before her twin and that other runner left without her.

She was too happy and immersed in her thoughts, or else, she would have noticed that Marrek had been staring at her the whole time, with the suspicion that the blonde woman wasn't acting like her usual self.

* * *

Cage was now at the hangar, surrounded by all the BIS's frames and LEVs. For a newbie, it would be an intimidating place, but for him, it was something close to natural. At least it didn't impress him much. Once you get used to be around Orbital Frames, Metatron machines and other stuff like that, that kind of things start looking like some routinary thing.

He walked to his new frame, the Will. He stared at it, examining it. It was just as Testament used to be from the outside, but it was nothing like it within. It was hard for him to cope with that stuff, as it resembled too much to his first, helpful and beloved frame. Instead, this frame was so cold and distant. It made Cage feel like being aboard a dead Pharsti, a thought that gave him the creeps.

In fact, the entire thing about Will was creepy. Modeled after Pharsti, it didn't resemble its predecesor at all, and that made things more difficult to him. Well, it did look like Testament, but if one made a deeper analisys, it was easy to tell that both frames were quite opposites. He hadn't thought he would hop into an OF again, and there he was, running one without thinking about it much. The thing that Will looked like Testament helped him at the beginning, but he had to learn how to cope with the disappointment he had each time he was inside the cockpit and that his AI wasn't Pharsti. If Pharsti had been there, he wouldn't have been so close to dying in the last battle...

He couldn't understand how he couldn't react against that BAHRAM's runner. But most importantly, he couldn't believe how Pharsti hadn't protected him. However, he knew it well. The answer was rather simple and obvious: the frame he had in front of him wasn't Testament, and Pharsti wasn't there, but a mute, simple AI. Nothing was the same.

He wondered why Robin and the others designed it after Testament. Maybe they thought it would make him feel better, considering how close he had been to Pharsti. They would have succeeded in their effort, but there was a little detail that prevented that from happening: the Will's AI wasn't Pharsti. And that was enough to make him feel a complete stranger aboard a strange thing.

Pharsti... Cage missed her much, and he hadn't really admitted it until he was inside the Will. The cold, silent cockpit of his new frame reminded him of Testament's cokpit, and brought back his memories of the talkative, helpful Pharsti.

If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't be alive, as she was the one who told him how to use an OF. Everything he knew, he debt it to Pharsti. But she didn't exist anymore, and he had to accept that fact. The Will's resemblance made that task more difficult than what it was suppossed to be.

Why did he accept to fight back alongside BIS now, if he had returned with Myona for a holiday? This wasn't suppossed to happen at all. Could it be that he was just a "disaster-bringer"?

Maybe being in BIS was like returning home, and fighting in an OF was like returning to the routine, after a long holiday. Still, he didn't want to fight, or he had returned to BIS sooner. Whatever it was, when he knew that there was some trouble and that there was a frame available, he accepted to help. He wasn't regretful of that choice, only surprised of his attitude. He thought he would have declined the offer gently...

"Just how much longer will last all this?", he asked himself, staring at his silent, cold and insipid frame. It was a torture for him to step into that frame and remember that he wasn't with Pharsti, and that he would have to kill someone eventually. He almost got killed the last time, so he had to ve over cautious from now on...

"Honey, are you alright?", Myona asked him, as she came walking into the hangar.

The purple haired youth walked over to her sweetheart, with a soft, warm smile on her lips. He smiled her back, slightly tired. He wondered why he couldn't let Pharsti go, while he had Myona. What's more, he wondered why he couldn't still understand that Myona and Pharsti were the same, and why did he still used to think of them as two separate, unknown people. It had to be the fact that Myona didn't remember who she was when he first met her, while Pharsti was always Pharsti. Pharsti protected him in the battlfield always, while he had to protect Myona. Not that he disliked that, at all. He would spend his life protecting his caring girlfriend time over time, if he were to live his life again. Still... Pharsti's absence was painful to him, especially at the battlefield, when they were like one.

Cage shocked his head in an attempt to make his bitter thoughts disappear. He didn't want to worry Myona with a stupid thing. She wouldn't take it well, that was for sure. On the other hand, he didn't want her to change, as he felt she was just as she had to be, without caring if she was Myona, Pharsti or whatever. A name couldn't change a personality, or could it? The girl he had in front of her was his girlfriend, and was both Myona and Pharsti, no matter how his mind kept on thinking of Myona as a human being and Pharsti as a machine. The girl that was now at his side had the gentleness and sweetness of Myona, and the stubborness that was so usual in Pharsti. The same stubborness that made her sacrifice herself to protect him and the others...

"Are you sure you are alright?", Myona asked him again, worried about his tired, thougtful look. "You look somewhat confused", she said, looking at his dark eyes.

Cage smiled back, trying to calm her down. "I'm fine, sweetie. It's just that I came to check my frame's status, that's all"

Myona nodded, thoughtfully. "Do you miss her that much, don't you?", she asked, without looking at him this time.

Cage was surprised by that wuestion. "What?", he asked her, fearful that she had somewhat read his thoughts in some way or another.

"I've asked you if you miss Pharsti that much", she repeated, seriously. Her words were cold, even if she tried to sound natural. She was fearful of his upcoming answer, because if he still missed her, it would mean that he liked Pharsti better than her, and that meant that he didn't like her.

"I... I miss her at the battlefield", Cage admitted, embarrassed. He wasn't sure how she would handle that answer. She couldn't blame him, because Testament's AI had been really helpful, and she knew it well. Anyway... he was fearful of her reaction.

Myona looked down at her shoes, thinking. He missed Pharsti at the battlefield... that meant that he missed the machine, not the personality. That was obvious, because Pharsti has saved Cage's life uncountable times. Still... what if he missed Pharsti's personality and didn't dare to tell her?

Cage smiled at her, trying to cheer her up. She had to be slightly jealous, but there was no way of feeling like that, and she had to knew it. "Honey, you can't feel jealous of yourself", he told her, hugging while she kept on looking her shoes. "You are you, no matter the name you have. Pharsti, Myona... they are the same to me, because they are both parts of you. You may even want to use a third name, and I would still love you all the same, while you keep on being the same person. And I know that Pharsti and Myona are both sides of the same coin, and I love both sides, and that means that I love the coin, which is you", he told her, his voice trembling as he finished talking.

He felt guilty of having made her feel bad. But on the other hand, he realized that he loved his girlfriend beyond everything. Myona would have give everything for him, just as Pharsti did almost two years ago. And he would do everything for her, back then and today; he was sure of that.

However, Myona seemed reluctant to believe him. "Are you sure that a name doesn't make a person? You liked me when you meet me as Myona, and I have to call myself happy because you still like me... but look what happened to my brother! Hazel seemed to like him and now she hates him!", she exclaimed, nervously.

Cage hugged her tightly, burying her face on his chest. "Honey, there's a slight detail that you omitted: he killed her parents, even if he didn't know that at the moment. She can't separate Vale from Ares, as they are the same person, even if Ares claims that he wouldn't repeat his actions if he were given the chance to re-live his life"

Myona sobbed saddened. "That's true... but she doesn't seem to be that mad at me"

Cage sighed. "Then, it must have been because you practivally weren't involved, as you lost your memory, while he went and shot the ship. Besides, those two were sort of close to each other, so imagine what it feels to find out that the person you hang out the most is the same person that had killed your parents and ruined your life...".

Myona blinked, trying to get rid of some tears. "You are right in that, also. I was lucky enough to lost my memory and find you, Cage...", she said, leaning her head over his chest.

He leant his head over hers, softly. She was right. He was also lucky enough to find her that day, in a restricted area of the Bonaparte III. He had saved her life that way, daragging her with him into Testament, and then, she saved him, showing him that he could do things on his own, without having someone behind him telling him what to do. Now, he was more than lucky of having her by his side. Myona, Pharsti, whatever she was called, it was still her, the person he had fallen in love with.

Myona looked at him and smiled. "Sorry for the scene", she apologized, smiling lightly. "It's just that... you were close to her"

"And I was closed to you, too", he replied, also smiling. "By the way, it was still you, so you don't have to jealous of yourself"

Myona giggled at that comment. "I'll have to remember that. Usually we get jealous of other girls, not of machines and talking AIs that are a expression of oneself"

Cage laughed at that, tempted by his girlfriend commentary. "You couldn't have said it better"

Myona smiled, and hugged him tighter, as she kept on looking at him. "Do you think you'll be able to handle it?", she asked, pointing to the Will with her head.

"Why do you ask it?", Cage asked her, frowning. "Do you ask it because I'm a bad runner or because I miss your other self's help during battles?"

"A mix of both", she said, giggling. "Nah, seriously", she said, getting serious. "You can always quite, you know... we can talk to Robin and the others and they'll understand. You aren't a full time member nor a consumate runner"

"I know, but now that I'm in this mess, I want to go on until the end", he replied, staring at his frame. "I can't live mourning Testament and Pharsti forever, and so, I want to show this Metatron machine who's the boss here", he said, enthusiastically. "But if you are worried about me, just tell me and I'll quit. I don't want to loose you or make you worry"

"Besides, Ares will kill you if you ever make me cry", she teased him, recalling her brother's farewell words when the Iblis joined Testament in order to protect BIS and the others from the upcoming Metatron beam shot that was coming from the abandoned complex almost two years ago.

"Oh, I forgot that, also", Cage said. "I don't want to survive millions of Metatron shots only to be killed by your brother and former friend of mine when I get out from my frame", he said, laughing.

"That's something that I wouldn't want, also!", the purplish-haired girl said, giggling. "Anyway, you have already been in a frame before, and I have my brother in another one, so I guess I have already learnt not to worry about both of you"

"Talking about Ares... do you think there's something we can about him?", Cage asked him, concerned about his friend and future brother-in-law condition. The entire thing about Hazel had him in a down state, even if he denied it and tried to look the normally taciturn self.

"I don't know...", Myona admitted, worried. "I've already told him not to feel guilty about it, as he can't do anything for it now, but he just tells me not to worry about him, that he'll be ok soon. Talking with Hazel would help, but we can't ask her to forgive him, or me, for that matter".

"Life sure has some odd, even sadistic twists...", Cage mumbled, thoughtfully.

Myona hugged him tighter, as if she could correct one's mistakes that way.

* * *

Some days had passed since Ares paid Hazel a visit at the Spaceport, driving her to a more confussing state than the one she already was in. Days were longer, even more painful than what they used to be for her. Working at the Spaceport made her hidden memories awake, and so, her mind kept on going from the Spaceport to her parents and the accident, and from there to Ares, when it wasn't the other way round. She had little to none peace, but she had to go on working at the Spaceport if she wanted to have a roof over her head, at least until she could get something else.

Every time she could, she would go and hide somewhere. Most of the time she would end up in the bathroom, so Arantxa didn't even think it twice each time she had to go on her search. And effectively, the black haired woman would find the light blue haired youth there, crying.

It happened every day, without exception. Even having Hazel announcing the incoming and departing flights turned out futile to keep her mind busy. Arantxa was now having a tough time trying to come by with something to ease her friend's -because she felt that way about Hazel, who stopped being just an acquaintance to turn into a helpless friend- pain.

It was nothing but a quaint thing for Arantxa. Finally, she had to start looking after someone else rather than herself. And she had to begin with a highly depressed, "I-don't-need-help" kind of person. It was going to be a tough debut in her opinion, as she wasn't even close to Hazel's way of thinking.

Life surely had some odd twists...

* * *

Ruth yawned, tired. She was tired of everything. Tired of being a runner for a cause she didn't even support anymore; tired of the slow pace her frame had; tired of being inside a cockpit; tired of the silent, icy atmosphere she had to suffer because of her brother and Mikenne's argument. Tired of feeling that all that she had done was for nothing. Tired of the silence... tired of everything. She wasn't going to stay silent much longer.

"Hey, are you still there?", she asked her companions, just to start a chat.

Ethan arched an eyebrow. "Don't you have my image on your screen?"

"Yes, I do. But if I were to close my eyes, I could say taht I'm all alone, as no one is talking", the blonde woman replied. "I'm sick of this. I just need to talk about anything"

"If you want to talk, go on", Ethan told her, sighing. "I may say something from time to time"

Ruth glared at him, funnily. "That's not the point. A chat is an exchange of two or more people, not a monologue", she said, chuckling. "Hey, Mikenne, are you there?", she called the red-haired, who hadn't said a word since they had left the BAHRAM base.

"I'm here, but I think it would be better if we stay silent", she said, coming up with the perfect excuse to avoid the chit-chat thing. "Even if we are in anti-stealth mode, there's a slight chance that the enemy may identify us for the talking"

"What a lame excuse", Ethan said, annoyed. "If you don't want to talk, just say it", he nagged her.

"There's a slight possibility that something like that may happen", Mikenne defended herself softly, but no one would pay attention to her. She felt sorry for having screwed up the sort of relationship that she had with Ethan, but she kept on thinking that she had done the best thing she could do. At least, she made sure she wouldn't hurt him in the future, even if she had already hurt him.

"For what I see, you won't befreind each other in a loooong time", Ruth analized, giggling. "Well, if you don't want to talk, we won't force you, Mikenne", she told her, somewhat happily. She would have her brother's attention all to herself.

"Alright, what do you want to talk about?", Ethan asked her, now more distended.

"What about leaving all this shit and try to return to the normal life we had once had?", Ruth asked her, smiling broadly.

Ethan blinked, astonished. "You don't mean... Ruth, are you serious?", he asked her, puzzled, yet happy. However, worry overcome him. "Ruth, Marrek may be hearing at us! Are you just doing this to annoy him?"

"At all. This is a private chat between the runners, and no one can listen to it, because it's blocked for the outsiders", she explained. "So forget about that jerk, and answer my question, please"

"I think it's a neat idea", he said, filled with joy. "Anyway... I find it strange, coming from you. After all, you were the first one that decided to join..."

"And you followed me, when no one told you to do so", she interrupted him. "Now I think that I want some other things in my life than just fighting and running OFs, so... I guess it's time to retire"

"I've told you, it's a neat idea. When do you want to quit?"

"We can escape today, during the attack", Ruth said, seriously. "While we are attacking BIS or after that, it doesn't matter when, but it has to be during an attack, as we can escape on the frames. Then we leave them somewhere else, and we are free. What do you think?"

Millions of thoughts collided in Ethan's mind. If it was for him, he would have left right there, leaving Mikenne all alone, even if he didn't like much that idea. But he had other interests to watch out rather than his own ones. And Mikenne still bugged him, even if he tried to forget her.

"I don't know... it's too soon", he replied, confused.

"Wasn't this what you had expected me to say since I've joined!", she asked him, angrily. She couldn't understand her brother, who seemed to have too many, unnecessary doubts.

"I know, but you have to understand me, Ruth!", he complained. "A month ago, you were just a puppet under Marrek's control, doing just what he said, and all that. And now, you come over and tell me to escape right now, and I don't even have time to make some order on my mind! Don't you think that I can have some doubts? And how can I know that you won't regret this, and then you'll start asking me to return, because you don't dare to return all alone?"

"I had already thought about this, and there's nothing I want more than leaving this kind of life!", Ruth complained, anxiously. "I want to do something with my life!"

Ethan didn't replied. He felt like Ruth: this wasn't what he had thought about doing with his life. He would have rather become a F1 driver rather than this. Considering that he didn't have nor the resources nor the contacts to become a professional driver, he would have tried to study something related to mechanics, but he dropped everything behind to follow his impulsive, sometimes brian-lacking twin. Now, she would have to thank him that, because he was by his side to comfort her...

"Sorry to interrupt you", Mikenne said, before Ethan started talking. "I suggest you to stop talking about this, or to stop talking at all. There are some things that shouldn't be talked in a frame, or in a LEV, for that matter"

"Because the enemy can find us?", Ruth mocked her, annoyed.

"It's not because of that", the red-haired girl said, solemnly. "Orbital Frames, and some LEVs, have black boxes. Everything gets recorded here, from the OF's mechanics to your commentaries about how awesome a lover can be under the rain. If your frame explodes, someone will find its back box, most probably. You may be turned into powder, but the black box will be there, withall that data and conversations on it. I guess that's enough for you two to shut up", she said, distantly.

Ethan and Ruth were silent, surprised that they had forgotten such a little detail like that one. What if one were to had an accident? Marrek would go, pick the black box, and get the data from it, with hundreds of thier conversations. They weren't feeling guilty for what they had said, but for the fact that they had said too many things that could be used against them, if someone were to pick the data from there.

"That tape that had a conversation between two of the BIS members was gotten that way. It's just a copy of a certain chat, made from the black box of the Iblis frame", Mikenne explained. "Well, from what was left of it"

"Why do you tell us all this?", Ruth asked, suspiciously. Did Mikenne want to befriend her twin at all costs, or was she wondering if she really wanted that life, also?

"I don't know", Mikenne admitted, shrugging. "Guess that you two made me want to talk"

"Then, your frame was made with that data that came from the Testament black box?", Ethan asked her, more interested in the mechanic aspect of the story.

"I don't think so. There had been Ifrits that we got from Zephyrs's facilities. But who knows? Maybe this frame is still part of BAHRAM's good, old days...", she said, thoughtfully. "Or we still have some brilliant mind, hiding somewhere"

"Highly unlikely", Ruth said, skeptically. "If we had one, then why had we had to go and kidnap all those weirdos, pardon, scientists? There's no logic in that"

"Let's say the truth: there's no logic in Marrek's plans, or in Marrek himself", Mikenne said, sincerely. "I can't understand how he got to be in charge...", she mumbled, uncounsciously.

Ethan whistled. "Never expected to see that kind of thoughts in you, Mikenne", he said, partially teasing her, partially hoping he could get to know her better. If only she wasn't so stubborn...

Mikenne looked in another direction, embarrassed. Sometimes, she had to remember that she was human after all, and that she would say things that she didn't want to say...

Ruth arched an eyebrow. Right now, she was cursing at her idea of starting a chat, as it seemed that her twin was starting to like Mikenne again. Somewhat jealous, she said, "Alright, I guess it's time to get on movng and shut up, folks. I don't want Marrek to start playing my voice on a tape when I'm not around this thing".

And so, they did rest of the way in silence...

* * *

Like every other day, two of the BIS members would have to leave behind everything they were doing and spend some time patrolling the surroundings of the Saoshyant, just to be sure that they were safe, or if something was out of the ordinary. This time, Mebius and Warren had to share the patrol.

A rather uncomfortable silence filled the enviroment. They had known each other for quite some years, but they had never developed a friendly relationship in all that time. Their closed attitude made it difficult to start anything, especially from Warren's side, who wasn't what one could call a sociable being. Mebius, on the other hand, would spend her days after Deckson, grateful for all that he had done for her.

Things hadn't improved since the entire of the BIS group made them Lia's "parents". In fact, it had made things even more awkward. They didn't know how to treat each other. Everyone had thought that making them Lia's parents would bring them together, but it didn't. It just made them feel more uncomfortable between each other.

Warren felt strange at his role of father. How could he, a former mercenary, have ended up fathering a foster girl, or any girl, for that matter? He had never developed a paternal instinct before, but Lia had changed his view of life. The only thing was that he didn't show it, and so, he was the only one that knew all the things that little girl had made on him.

Mebius, on the other hand, was just delighted witht he idea of being that girl's mother. It was like a gift that God had given her, after loosing her child Tia. Lia wasn't Tia's replacement; oddly enough, Mebius found herself thinking about her lost husband and child more often than before. She kept on thinking how her life would have been if the accident hadn't happen.

That little girl made them think and reconsider their actions, but she still couldn't unite them. They felt awkward in front of each other.

Warren had had a crush on Mebius for a long time, but he was sure that she wouldn't pay attention to him, so he just thought that it was better to keep his feelings for himself, rather than trying to advance and screw up everything. On the other hand, he wasn't what Mebius expected for a couple, but she could be wrong. She didn't know him much, after all, because of his reserved behavior.

And as she felt odd with Warren, Mebius tried to be all the time with Lia, apart that she had just fallen in love with the little girl. That little, innocent and funny child was the remedy to her pain and fears.

Warren, instead, felt like an intruder, because Mebius would get too posesive of the little girl. She had never said anything about that, but he felt she suffered when she wasn't with the little girl.

"Are you worried about Lia?", Warren asked, already knowing the answer, but he just had to start a conversation, somehow. Sick of the uncomfortable atmosphere, he had to say something to break it.

Mebius nodded, silently.

Warren sighed. "You shouldn't worry that much. She isn't staying with a bunch of strangers..."

"I know, I can't help it", the blonde lady replied, shrugging. "Well, they aren't strangers, but you can't say that we aren't weird... just a group of different people sticking together for a cause that we don't know if it is still worthwhile. And yet, we don't seem to have too much in common"

Warren stared at her surprised. "I don't think like that... we all have things in common... and what if we are different? We still think the same..."

"It's not just that, Warren", Mebius protested, anxiously. "Do you think that Lia will grow up in a healthy environment? We don't have a fixed home, but wander throught the desert onboard a mobile fortress. Then, we aren't even a family! She may find it funny at first, but then... do you think she'll enjoy it when she grows up, or when she starts going to school? Because she'll just have to go to one, we can't teach her everything... And Hell, we aren't even a family, I said! What will she say when she grows up? My family consists in a bunch of rebels and I don't know anything about my real family ? Everyone will tease her, or they will look down at her! Do you think she'll enjoy that?"

Warren was surprised to see Mebius in such a nervous state. She was always so gentle, even when she was mad at someone. But she also looked fragile. Now he could tell why, after seeing just a hint of her suffering. She just wanted her normal life back, after all. She wanted to give Lia a normal childhood, something that he didn't have. He couldn't blame her, he also had his doubts about the worth of their "quest". With Deckson gone, motivation was something that was declining slowly. Robin tried to do her best, but it wasn't enough.

He sighed, resigned. He knew that the only way he could help Mebius was by walking away and leaving her with Lia alone. He couldn't be the father that the little girl needed. He could try, but he didn't think it would work out well. On the other hand, Mebius would be free to find a suitable father for the girl. None of them would miss him much, for that matter.

"You are right, we aren't a family", he finally said, seriously. "Then, why don't you try meeting new people, slowly? You could try to get a part time job, or meet someone in a chat-room...", he suggested, wishing that Mebius would tell him to shut up, that he was the one that she needed.

But she didn't say that. "I had already thought about that", she said, thoughtfully. "But it isn't that easily... I'm afraid of meeting someone and then loose him, like before... And Lia... she likes you, and you know it. It wouldn't be easy for her to accept someone else as her father"

"Who knows? She's what...? Almost two years old, no more", Warren replied, trying to hide his hurt feelings. "She's too little, she'll forget about that when she grows up".

"The fact that she is a little child doesn't mean that she can't recall things like that", Mebius replied, frowning. "Even if she can't bring it out, it will still be in her mind, uncounsciously... I can't hurt her in any way...", she said, already feeling guilty of something that she hadn't even decided to do. The love that Mebius had for Lia could do things like that...

Warren just sighed, not knowing what to say. Words weren't made for him, and so... he just stayed silent, wishing that he could do something more than sighing and staring in silence. If only he could show her (and show himself, for that matter) that he could try to change that cold, serious attitude of his...

Mebius dried up the tears that had fallen from her eyes. "I'm sorry", she said softly, a bit calmer now. "It's just that... I couldn't hide those feelings any longer. There are times that I think that we all do this in vain, as Earth will come and oppress us once more... but I can't let myself believe in that, can I? Then, all our work would have been futile, even if Earth doesn't attack..."

"You are being too hard on yourself, Mebius, and that puts you under more preassure", Warren said, thoughtfully. "You don't have to worry too much asking yourself if you are a good mother or not, because you are doing a great job, even if you haven't found for her a 'traditional' family"

"Thanks", Mebius mumbled, smiling a little once more. "Sorry for that one... it's a thing that is harassing me since some time ago... I don't think we are making such a bad work... I think she'll enjoy it, after all", she said, hoping that she could go back in time and shut up. She didn't want anyone to know of her pain and worries, and now she found herself sharing her pain with Warren, one of the few people she hadn't imagined herself talking about that subject with.

"Anyway, I think that you should leave and find someone, if having a "traditional" family is a priority in your life", he advised her, now distended.

"I wish I could. It isn't as easy as you make it sound", the blonde woman thought, smiling lightly. "Anyway, you aren't making it that bad as a father", she said, friendly.

Warren arched an eyebrow. Now, what was that? "You don't have to lie to make you forgive you, if you think that your 'outburst' deserves a forgiveness, which it doesn't".

"I'm not lying", she complained, giggling. "The girl adores you, and you should know it by now... Do you remember the first time that we saw her? She stopped crying only when she was in your arms... and it had been like that since that day"

"Then, we already know that that girl must have some problem", he said, quickly. "She has to be crazy to like someone like me"

"Why? You aren't a bad person, only a bit too reserved", she said. "I don't see why someone would have to be crazy to befriend you. You only have to become more social"

Warren looked in some other direction to make sure that Mebius wouldn't notice that he was blushing slightly. Aparently, she had a higher opinion of him that the one he thought she had. If only he could try to ask her out, or just proposed her to try that "traditional" family scheme that she wanted so much to have...

"And I think you should try to stop wearing those sunglasses", she went on. "I think they are intimidating for someone that first meets you... I'm surprised that Lia hadn't run away when she was little..."

"Wait!", he said, energically. "I've spotted something over there...", he said, zooming his screen.

"Hey, those frames... aren't they...?". Mebius started asking, once she had seen her zoomed image.

"Yes, they are", Warren interrupted her, quickly. He grabbed his communicator and said, "Twede, BAHRAM's going straight to the Saoshyant! Gather the others and send them with us!"

Twede took some moments before answering back. "I don't see anything at the radar. They must be in anti-stealth mode", he said, monotonous. "Alright, I'll warn the others"

* * *

Semyl came out thoughtfully from the kitchen. She was so lost in her thoughts that she had almost bumped into Ares, who was also walking along the corridor with his mind somewhere else.

"Sorry", she apologized, confused.

Ares didn't even smile back, he just nodded. "Don't worry. I should have seen you coming out", he said, as a kind of apology. Then, he just turned back and kept on walking, ignoring Semyl completely.

Semyl stared at him, helpless. A bitter feeling had just woken up in her. Why couldn't he be as nice to her as he had been to Hazel? She knew her better than that light-blue haired gal, and still... he treated her just as a comrade. Not that he was really cool and "suave" to Hazel, but... there was something strange between those two. Until... well, everyone knew what had happened. None of them had enough luck in life, or they wouldn't have "fallen" for each other.

But did she really know if Ares felt something more for Hazel? No, she didn't. And those two were never that close to be called a couple. Maybe it was what everyone had hoped, for Ares's sake. Everyone at BIS thought that he needed someone to show him that he wasn't such a creep as he thought he was, and that having some sort of "girlfriend" could be helpful. On the other hand, they also thought that Hazel needed to think open herself to the others in some way.

Semyl kept on staring at Ares's back, her eyes wide opened and filled with both sadness and rage. Why couldn't he repair on her? Why...?

A cough from her back called her back to reality. When she turned back, she found Razma behind her, leaning against the frame of the door, with a strange look on his face, one that mixed a funny and a hurt look.

"Are you devoring him with your glance?", he teased her, chuckling. Somehow, his voice also seemed hurt, even if he acted naturally.

It was a strange relationship the one that he had with Semyl. They switched from love to hate (and the other way round) in no time. He couldn't tell why he felt some kind of annoyment when he saw her with other guys, when he had never really felt like asking her out. It had to be because everyone around them teased them about their relationship, but he couldn't help but feeling a bit uncomfortable when there was some other guy around Semyl. Especially if that guy turned out to be Ares.

He didn't want Semyl to get hurt, and even if he tried to think differently, he had the feeling that the light haired guy would have ended up breaking his comrade's heart. And, for some reason or another, he didn't want that to happen.

"What do ya' want?", Semyl asked him furiously, angry because he had made her turn her sight out from Ares, and angry because he was making fun of her.

"Nothing", Razma said, chuckling. "You just needed someone to remind you that you had to return to Mars... from the happy world of Fantasy Land"

Semyl glared at him, like most of the time. The worst part is that he was right. There were more chances for her to meet her biological parents than Ares paying attention to her, and that was the same as saying that it was impossible, because she had already given up any hope of finding her progenitors. She didn't want to admit it, but Razma was right: she just needed someone to bring her back from Fantasy Land.

"Don't ya' have somethin' better to do than stalkin' me?", she asked him seriously, her hands at her hips.

Razma laughed. "Am I a stalker to you?", he asked, still laughing.

"You look like one, always behind me", she said, serious.

"At least, you have someone to watch your back when you are in trouble", he said, not joking anymore. "Like the other day at the ice rink, with that guy that was mad at you for some past incident", he said, staring at her.

Semyl looked down, embarrassed. Shit, he was right again. Even if it was annoying, he was always behind her. She could still be arguing with her former friend if Razma hadn't been there. And she would still be staring at Ares if it wasn't for him.

She just wanted to dissappear at that time, because she didn't want to admit that he was always there. She didn't say a thing, and she kept on staring at the floor, waiting for him to give up and leave. However, he was still there, and it looked like he would be there until she said at least a single word.

"Everyone, get ready!", Robin yelled through the corridor, in haste. "BAHRAM's coming this way!"

"What?", Semyl asked, puzzled.

"What you heard!", the white-haired leader yelled, turning back. "Warren and Mebius spotted them during the patrol. There's no time to waste, get ready!"

Quickly, Razma grabbed Semyl by the hand and left to the hangar.

* * *

The rest of the BIS gang had come right in time to save Mebius from a double attack at the hands of Ruth and Ethan, whose Dioscuri frames were "knocking" the poor purplish frame time over time. Warren could do little to nothing to help his "virtual wife", as he had enough with Mikenne and her Ifrit.

Things were a bit toughter, considering that unmanned reinforcements have arrived to help the three BAHRAM runners. The BIS people were doing the best they could, with some good results, thankfully for them. Still, Cage didn't dare to face Mikenne again, so he tried to be out of her sight.

Semyl felt a hit coming from her back. Innocently, she turned back, wishing that it was just Ruth, attacking from afar. However, what she saw froze her blood.

A few miles away, a new group of LEVs and frames were coming from the south. It was a rather large group, not what one would expect for a rutinary patrol. On their wings and machines had a very distinctive and feared sign.

"That's the UNSF!", the red-haired youth yelled, nervously.

"What?", Razma and Cynthia yelled at unison, astonished.

"She's right", Warren said, after cheking in his screen. "And they don't come in small numbers"

"Great", Cynthia mumbled, her eyes lost in nowhere. "My mom will surely kill me if he gets to know this. First I wanna become a diplomat, then I end up attacking the UNSF... my father will disheir me, and my mother will turn me into dust", she went on, resigned.

"What are they doing here?", Ruth asked terrified.

Her brother, on the other hand, looked satisfied, even if he tried to hide it.

Slowly, the UNSF squad started moving towards them. The ones that could started shooting at both BIS and BAHRAM while walking. The others just followed them, waiting their moment to get into action.

The real battle had just began.

* * *

Marrek walked from one side of the room to the other, both nervous and thoughtfully.

Now, he had many things to think about. First of all, he had to recover the data that was stolen from the abandoned Labs by the Mars Angels, and that was in the hands of BIS at that moment. If that tiny rebel group were to crack it and open it, things would become a little more complicated, as they would have the evidence to accuse them of the kidnapping and murdering of innocent people, mainly scientists. But most importantly, they would thoroughfully know everything about their new frames and the plans they had thought for them. That would give them even more advantages over them.

Then, he had to show that he was still capable of being the leader of the Hellespontos branch. For that to happen, things had to start going out smoothly, just as planned. And that was something that wasn't happening lately. But thinking about making things better was like a dream, now that his entire crew was starting to rebel against him. He had never had Ethan under his control, to be sincere, but he just did what he was told to do, just as Mikenne. Only that he always had a trick under his sleeve if the red haired beauty didn't want to colaborate... The only one that was easy to control was Ruth, but she had been acting strange lately. Her latest attitude, showing nothing but disrespect to him, was the last thing he could deal with. He wasn't going to tolerate any more insurrections.

He recalled the first time he met her. August, 2172. He had gone to Earth to make sure that some stuff was being correctly shipped to Vacilia. He was dealing with some paper work at the Earthian Spaceport when he saw her, sitting alone in a café. The fact that she was just on her own at the cafeteria was the first thing that called his attention. He had found an easy victim, with no one to rescue him from his flirting attempts. Her somewhat confident, yet lonely expression and the light pink beret that she was wearing did the rest.

When he finished his paperwork, he decided to go and talk to her. A womanizer like him couldn't let go that opportunity. From afar, he could tell that she wasn't ugly, and the fact that he hadn't been with a girl for some days made her look even prettier than what she could really be. So, he walked into the cafeteria, walked past his table, smiling at her. He liked what he saw at first glance, and so, after ordering something, he returned to her table and asked her if he could seat in her table.

She was reluctant at first, but after some moemnts talking, she gave in. Slowly, he gained her sympathy, and invited her to lunch. Just as he expected, she accepted. He wasn't usually rejected, and she wan't going to be the exception.

There was something odd about her. He couldn't tell if she was from Earth or from Mars, as she had no distintic feature in herself. He didn't find a hint of superiority, so usual in Earthlings, nor the hatred or summissed attitude of Martians in Ruth. Her speech didn't show a special tone, either. At first, he thought she could be French, but it had to be for the beret. Anyway, other people, not just French women, used berets. Then, he was left clueless.

All those characteristics made her rather unique... As a man with good taste, he had to take advantage of the opportunity he had in front of his eyes. Maybe the girl could be useful, somehow...

Things went smoothly through the lunch, and by the end of it, he had already hinted at her to join the Martian rebel forces. He was delighted when she told her that she would have to think it over, as that gave him another opportunity to see her.

He delayed his trip back to Mars a few days, telling his superiors that something wrong had happened with one of the required shipping, and that he had to stay until he solved the problem, but that he didn't know when that would be. Luckily for him, Ruth didn't make him wait too much for her answer. Five days after having met him, and after a brief "courtship" from his part, she had joined BAHRAM, eager to help her homeland to get rid of the Terran domination. That very day, she was under his command and something more...

Marrek smiled at the memories. She had been a good girl to him. She did everything he told her to do, and she seemed pleased of doing so. She was a good pilot and an acceptable lover. If it was for her, their relationship would have lasted forever, only that he had a little problem: he always got fed up too soon... He always did that, but Ruth was too demanding, always behind him.

Then, to make the matter worse, her twin brother joined. Marrek didn't like him from the beginning, nor did Ethan. That guy would always be behind his sister's back, keeping an eye on everything she was doing. That was enough for Marrek, and so, he finally decided to dump Ruth.

Some weeks later, Mikenne returned to Hellespontos. Ahh... Mikenne. She was the "tough one", the one that wouldn't fall under his charming attitude, and the one he was interested in getting. But she would pay no attention to his seductive games, so he just had to try harder. With her arrival, he completely forgot Ruth, and her brother, and everything. He just had to get Mikenne, some way.

And now... that little suspicious blonde brat under the name of Ruth wanted to disobey him. She, that she had always been docile to him. Things have surely changed since he met her...

A beep from a monitor called his attention. Several unidentified units have appeared on the battlefield. After some typing, he found out that they belonged to the UNSF, who had just joined the BIS-BAHRAM battle. Things were getting darker and more difficult to him, there was no doubt about that. Hod did those Earth bastards find them? They must have developed some new, secret radar technology... or there was a spy among them.

He had to do something about it. It was his opportunity to show that he was a capable, skilled squad leader. And he would also teach his crew that he was still the one in charge, and how far he could go in order to show them that they would have to respect him at all costs.

He left the command room, under the incoming warning beeps, and went to the hangar, walking calmly. He went to a certain corner of the hangar, one that was supposed to be the storage section of the complex, and stopped walking. He faced a tall, half-human, half bull shaped OF. He spent some moments staring at it, admiring each corner of the Metatron weapon.

"Long time we don't see, Minotaur", the green haired male said, staring at the Greek-monster shaped frame. "Looks like we'll have to send some havoc out of there", he added, chuckling.

The frame, being just a material, couldn't reply back, but it seemed like it agreed. The tall brown and grey frame was impressive, indeed. Its legs were thin and grey, while its torso and head were bigger, resembling a bull, and painted in brown. Its back had two propulsion systems, which gave it an amazing speed. But it was just a prototype, so something could go wrong in it. In fact, that frame was the reson why Marrek didn't run OFs anymore, after an accident.

It took place during the Aumann incident. At that time, he was under some Greek myth lover's command, who asked to design a frame after the Minotaur myth. He was the one chosen to run it, for he was one of the better runners they had.

It was a prototype frame, designed with a perfect synchronization between men and Metatron, without having to insert Metatron devices in the runner's brain. It was based on old Zephyrs's investigations that were handed to BAHRAM by their spy Amante Furlair, who had joined the Earth forces just to sneak in.

For a couple of battles, everything went smoothly. It was like a dream came true for them. But something went wrong, and Marrek ended up in a hospital, unconscious, while the frame had gained an abnormal amount of energy.

He had been in a comma for three weeks. When he woke up, he wasn't the same person. He couldn't run any frame acceptably. It was as if the Minotaur had swallowed his skill.

But he had also changed mentally. He became even more moody than what he was, and a slightly sadistic figure started showing up on him.

He started to stop caring about the others, and he just wanted his own good. Not that he had ever been a considerate type of person, but he had changed for the worse.

The Minotaur had gotten its first victim.

Marrek was banned from his right of running frames, because he couldn't even run LEVs, and so, they made him a base leader, to keep them on the force, but far from the OF contact.

Anyway, the green-haired man wasn't resentful with his frame. All the contrary, he had been yearning for a chance to use it once more. And now he had it.

"Alright, let's go, Minotaur", Marrek said, grinning, once he had gotten into the cockpit.

Slowly, the giant Metatron beast started moving, ready to get its annual sacrifice meal.

* * *

Hi, there! I have to pat myself on the back: this chapter didn't take that long. On the other hand, it didn't take long because I had to split the content I had planned for it between this chapter and the following, so... The story is getting larger, just when I thought that I was getting into its real "countdown" (and that meant that I was close to finish it, and so I could go into other projects... sigh).

The battle between BIS and BAHRAM wasn't described because it wasn't that important (at this point). Next chapter will be quite painful to write because it takes place during the battle. I can't still understand how I did it this far... it must have been because I love the FoM cast. I plan to re-do (or improve) the battle scenes once that I had finished the fic, when I do the so postponed revision.

Alright, there's not much to say, just to tell you to review this (please), so I can know what do you think about the story, guys and girls, especially now that we know the turth about Hazel and all that. What's more, there are at least two people who read and haven't said a thing about it! (that's what I got by messing around the stats page ) If you don't want to make it like a review, drop me a mail. It'll take me some time to answer it back, but I'll eventually do it, I promise!

Alright, all for now. Take care!


	19. Fatal

Chapter 19 - "Fatal"

"Well, finally, we are ready to go and smash those Martians once again", a bald, medium-aged man, clad in a military uniform, said, leaning backwards in his chair. "And I thought they would learn, after all these years and confrontations..."

"As far as things go, they have obviously not learnt a single thing", a younger man said, not showing much enthusiasm. "Should I give the order to launch a second attack?", he asked, staring at a window.

"Wait a little more, Philip, please", the bald man told him, smiling. "We have to wait for them to make another attack... especially if it's in a civilized area"

"Yes, but those groups are fighting each other in the wasteland, rather than in the city", Philip Nor, the younger man replied, anxiously. For him, those Martians were intelligent enough to know how to avoid the Earth control. If they just kept on fighting in desolated areas, then no one would complain. The Martians would just ask for help if the rebels were to damage some important economical supply or if they were to fight on the city. He had already give up the idea of fighting in Martian land himself. Everything was so boring, action reduced to "administrative" work.

"Yes, but they aren't that stupid", Colonel Boer, the bald man, said. "They have media, and they know the current situation. They'll just beg us to interfere in some days... It'll be better to grant their wishes before they ask them, won't it?"

"If you say so...", Philip Nor gave in, shrugging.

"That contact we have is really useful. The contact won't mind staying a little longer, hopefully", Colonel Boer said, smiling.

"It would be convenient if we can hold it there some more time... I'm confident we'll be able to smash the remnants of BAHRAM rather soon"

Boer chuckled at the self-confidence of the younger officer. "I like your spirit, boy. I personally think that you have much to give... If only you weren't that cold and mechanical. If I didn't know you for quite some time, I would say that you are an android"

"Some things can't be helped", the youngest officer replied, smiling lightly. "What should I do now, if I can't dispatch another squad?"

Boer sighed, still unable to understand his subordinate's desire for Martian blood. "I don't know. Go to the planning room and take care that everything is going out smoothly, I guess"

Philip Nor left the room, feeling satisfied. Even if he wasn't at the head of a squad, things were getting close to it. In a few days, he would have to get into the action, at the head of a squad, most likely.

* * *

Ruth felt a knock on her frame, so she turned back to see who had knocked her. To her amazement, she found an old, long forgotten frame behind her. 

The only glance at the Minotaur shaped frame made her felt cold, as if suddenly the entire cockpit got frozen. It couldn't be happening, it just couldn't. Marrek wasn't supposed to be running that thing, nor any frame, for that matter. He couldn't be on that monstrous prototype, he mustn't. That thing screwed him up... could he be that stubborn to hop into that thing again, knowing that he could die in there?

She couldn't tell why, but she felt pity of that runner. She didn't love him anymore (or so she thought), but she felt bad about him. She wanted to yell at him to return to the base, because she would be able to handle everything by herself, alongside her twin, Mikenne and the entire unmanned army. She wanted to tell him to go away, and not to risk his life in vain. But her pride was enormously big, so she didn't say that. What's more, she knew that he wouldn't listen to her, so why should she waste her words in him?

"Wow", she finally said, once she could get out from her surprise. "I see that you have finally decided to show how skilled you are", she said, still confused. "I hadn't thought I would live to see this day", she now told him, sarcastically.

"I don't think you'll be able to fully live it", Marrek said, defiantly.

Ruth blinked, surprised and nervously. "I suppose that one was a threat... am I wrong?"

"You should know how to take it", he said, choosing a command from his screen. At the next instant, a greenish Metatron blade appeared on the frame's right arm. Just after that, he charged towards Ruth's frame, Castor.

"What do you think you are doing?", the blonde female runner asked terrified, dodging by little her superior's attack.

"Teaching all of you who's the boss here", Marrek answered, distantly.

At that tone of voice, Ruth started looking for strange things in the image of Marrek that her screen gave her. He couldn't be serious, after all. That damned prototype frame had to swallowing his personality from him, again. She hoped to find some Metatron reflections, white pupils, completely white eyes, or red ones, even his whole face destroyed by the Metatron emissions. But she couldn't find any of those. He was talking seriously, even if it was too cruel to believe it.

Another blast of Metatron came in her direction. She fell backwards, having not foreseen his attack, as she couldn't came out from her astonishment.

"Do you really want this?", Ruth asked her, her voice shattered by the pain she was feeling. It wasn't physical pain, but psychological one. How could someone end up in such a state, where he didn't care about anyone else, where he wouldn't mind killing someone to show that he was worth of his post? She knew he would kill her, there was no other way out from that. Once he had something in mind, he would go and fulfill it, no matter the costs. If that wasn't the case, she wouldn't have had to chase all those scientists, at the point of attacking their homes to find them, nor she would have had to attack innocent people to get something for her... nor he would have dumped her in order to pursue Mikenne.

It was too late to reconsider the things that she had done, or the ones that she didn't do. She was also to blame for all the damage that she had brought to many people. She knew it, but she also knew it that also in Earth's side she would have damaged someone. You can't have it all...

"And what do you think?", Marrek answered her question by firing at her frame. The huge Metatron cannon that had emerged from the Minotaur's abdomen had made a considerable amount of damage in the fallen frame.

Ruth closed her eyes tightly, wishing that the entire situation wasn't happening to her. Getting kill couldn't be that easy, could it? She was supposed to be a competent runner, not a crybaby... Where had all her strength gone?

Another Metatron blast crossed her frame's chest, and then another. Ruth made no movement, she just stayed with her eyes closed, biting one lip and containing all her frustration and rage.

"Ruth, what's the matter?", her brother's voice asked irritated, as soon as he realized that her sister was down. "Get up and kick his ass!", he demanded, trying to evade a wayward Metatron blast that came from the Caliburnus's Star Carnival.

It couldn't be so easy to give up... She couldn't do it, her brother needed her. And even if her brother didn't need her, she had to try it once more. She had to show, just as Marrek, that she was still capable of fighting.

However, she couldn't find the strength to get up and start attacking. Something within her wasn't right. "Come on, girl", she encouraged herself, almost begging. "I have to do it", she tried to convince herself. Still, she couldn't find the reasons to raise her frame and start attacking back.

_Why should you bother? You just have the opportunity to finish with all this_... Part of herself just wanted to give up. Another part didn't.

Ruth suddenly started feeling the will to fight. It couldn't be so easy to give up. It just couldn't. What would everyone say about her if she just quitted? Her brother wouldn't forgive her, and everyone would look down at her, then they would laugh at her... She hadn't gone so far just to end up laying down in that damned Martian floor.

Slowly, she realized that she had to fight. Not for the others, but for herself. Giving up wouldn't lead her anywhere. She recalled her determination of running away from BAHRAM, and decided that she had to fight for it. She could try to stop Marrek in some way, and then she would run away, in the middle of the confusion.

That was a simple, good plan that she couldn't let go to waste.

* * *

Hazel had just dispatched another set of luggage when she heard all that fuss near the giant, plasma TV screen at the spaceport. Like almost all, if not the most, of her colleagues, she left what she was doing and went to the screen, in order to find out what was going on. 

She hadn't expected the image she had in front of her eyes. She had expected to see some political chitchat in some crappy debate, even a War declaration, but she hadn't expected to see her former BIS-mates fighting against BAHRAM and the UNSF at the same time. Not at the time being, at least. The last time she had been there, the UNSF was nothing but a word, not a threat, nor an active enemy. But what astonished her the most was the media coverage, showing the entire battle from the very battlefield. How those reporter guys didn't end up dead was a good question, but the answer was pretty obvious: robots and satellites bring the images to the efficient reporters. No one gets hurt, everyone "enjoys" the "show".

Hazel could recognize Ruth attacking Semyl, and her cousin Cynthia had just been hit by an UNSF LEV, who was hit by Mebius shortly after that. Ethan was fighting with Warren, Mikenne tried to get rid of the UNSF, while Cage tried to be the furthest away he could from the red haired BAHRAM runner and her red Ifrit, just in case she went "berserk" again. And far away, an unknown frame was shooting at everyone.

The blue-haired girl felt strange there, in the middle of the Spaceport, among current colleagues and passengers, all strangers to her. She didn't want to fight, nor she liked it, but she still wanted to help, somehow. That must have been the reason why she hadn't complained too much when she found the Tempus... no, it wasn't the Tempus anymore; it was the Athenea.

She saw how Cynthia attacked Mikenne, and how the BAHRAM runner knocked her cousin down in exchange. She saw how two opponents attacked the Vjaya at the same time. That bastard of Ares... no, Vale... he deserved it, he deserved that and much more, but it also hurt her, that synchronized hit, even if she didn't want to admit it.

Everyone around her were also astonished. Little children looked awestruck at the screen, and the adults may be interested or not. But that didn't matter, as everyone was hooked at the real time, three parties battle.

"Unreliable... I've never expected this kind of coverage from such a prestigious TV station", an elegant, middle-aged woman commented annoyed, after a brief description of the situation by the HBC's news anchor. "And the worst part is that my flight is delayed due to this nonsense fight... Only in Mars our human rights are used as toilet-paper". It was pretty clear that the woman was from Earth.

"Hey, if you are from Earth, then why don't you stay there?", a younger man told the woman, also annoyed. "You don't have the right to criticize our planet like that here!"

"Oh, my... what an insolent youth... where are we getting to?", the lady said, moving to another place, in case the Martian youth would like to go on quarrelling. She must better find a peaceful place, with some other Earthlings, who would most likely be nice to her, and treat her as she deserved.

"I hate to admit with that Earthian, but is there any need to transmit the battle?", an older man asked, not pleased.

"Have you been out from this galaxy in the last few years?", the same youth asked him, this time with some sarcasm included. "Big fights, little fights... almost everything is recorded and sent to the TV since the Deimos incident... and even centuries before that happened! Only that now we have to look as the "bad guys""

"Alright, I know all that, but... is it necessary?", the old man asked again, sighing. "I don't see the need of recording and transmitting how every single thing in the battlefield blows up in little pieces..."

"Do you know why? Because your people have to learn to respect its elders, who would be Earth, in this case. After all, you come from us!", another man shouted energetically. "So that's why the media transmits it, because you have to see and learn and learn what happens when you mess up the UNSF!"

"Oh, shut up!", the youth replied back, angrily. "I can't understand why those people from Earth come to our planet if they can't stand it!"

"Sometimes, we don't have other way out", the Earthling replied, bitterly.

"Hey, mommy, when I get older I want to run one of those!", a little boy told his mother, who looked at him terrified and scandalized. She wanted another future to his son, rather to see him die inside a pile of metal.

"Go, Martian Resistance! Go and kick their arses! You rock!", an English accent youth yelled, excited.

"How much longer is the UNSF taking to kill them all?", someone wondered.

"Man, having one of those babies must be superb!", another exclaimed, delighted at the image of the Will.

So many noises making echoes in Hazel's head... The sound of Metatron swords clashing, the sounds of firing guns and shifting frames, as well as falling units. The voi9ces of several people, against or in favour, mixed with her remorsing consciouensce. Everything was moving around her, confusing her even more than what she already was. Right on the screen, Cynthia was going down once more, and Warren wasn't having an easy tome with the UNSF runners. She felt the need of helping them. Maybe it was just because of Cynthia, who was in the battlefield, perhaps it was because she couldn't hate themm all that easily.

Whatever the reason was, she couldn't be at the Spaceport any longer. Desperately, she began running to the exit, leaving everything and everyone behind, even if that meant that she would be unemployed at the following day.

"Miss Drajner, where do you think you are going?", one of her bosses called her, irritated.

But she was already too far away from him to answer back.

Arantxa followed her with her eyes, surprised. "Something tells me that she isn't going to hide in the bathroom this time", she mumbled suspiciously.

* * *

Cynthia let go a pair of swearwords after getting hit by an UNSF LEV. She tried to do her best, but the frame still seemed reluctant to obey her. 

Around her, the battle didn't seem to end up anytime soon. After a few, energy lacking warnings, the UNSF group started firing to both rebel groups, without caring much with whom they were fighting. The Earth guys seemed eager to fight, after all.

"What's up with these guys? Hadn't they realized that we were fighting each other for a long time?", Semyl complained, shooting her Caliburnus's Star Carnival at a row of UNSF and BAHRAM runners.

"I don't know", Yukito answered back, firing back at an UNSF unit which was about to fire at his red-haired companion. "Maybe we are fighting over an important Metatron-rich floor and they don't want us to spoil it"

"Yeah, it must be that", Semyl replied back, dodging an enemy shot.

"Cage, are you alright?", Myona asked her sweetheart, worried. She hadn't heard from him since the battle began.

"Yes, I guess so", the blue-haired youth replied, breathless. He wasn't used to that kind of big battle anymore. "Hey, Myona..."

"Yes, Cage?"

"Can you tell me who made me accept this?", he asked her, while grabbing an enemy's arm before it impaled his Will with its Metatron sword. "I mean... we were so free and happy before returning here..."

Myona smiled lightly. "I know... but we didn't know that chaos would start with our arrival"

"You are right in that", Cage said, slashing a UNSF Phantoma with his frame's SoulSection. "I hope this ends soon... I couldn't forgive me running away without helping"

"I know you wouldn't do that", she told him, as her transport supplied some energy to the Durandal II. "Keep yourself out from trouble... and don't worry, everything will be ok soon", she told him, smiling broadly. She needed to believe that all that mess would end up soon, and she wanted Cage to believe that she was completely sure of that.

"I'll do. See you later!", he said, turning back and rushing in the opposite direction, making one of his attacant's miss its shot.

Ares was quite busy dealing with both Ethan and a UNSF officer, so he didn't repaired that he was being attacked on the back. However, the attacks stopped soon, so he made his best to avoid the other two attackants and turned back, eager to see who saved his back. Surprisingly enough, at least for him, he found Cynthia firing and attacking -the best she could in a rather rebel OF- at the UNSF guys that were behind him. Soon, both of them got rid of those.

"Guess I have to say 'thanks'", he thanked her, taciturnly.

"Nah, it was the best I could do, after all the trouble I've brought", she said, smiling weakly. "Will you forgive me, Ares?", she asked.

"Why do I have to forgive you?", he asked puzzled, while he tried to get rid of a BAHRAM unit this time.

"Because I should have been more clear with you when I told you not to get close to my cousin", she replied back, firing some shots at Ruth, in case she wanted to attack her with those paralyzing things that she used to kidnap her. Luckily for her, Ruth didn't even turn back to see who hit her.

"Who did know at that time how things could turn up?", he asked her, sort of philosophically. "I should have followed your advice, though"

"It was the only thing I could do. I couldn't walk to Hazel's side and tell her something like 'Look, Hazel: that guy who's really nice to you and all that, is the same guy that appeared on TV in front of an angry mob, and that wanted Martian independence. Yes, after that you almost committed suicide for the 29th time'... or could I?", Cynthia explained him, exaggerating things to make her point clearer. "I didn't want her to start dreaming and then see her dreams fall down, just because your past was attached in some way with the incident..."

"Anyway, I ended up being more harmful that what you supposed me to be...", Ares said, seriously. He started fighting at Cynthia's back, until he got rid of the unit that was about to attack Cynthia. "Hey, this isn't the best place to talk... don't get pissed at me, we'll go on with the later", he told her, and he walked away in some other direction.

Cynthia just nodded and went in the opposite direction.

In another side of the battlefield, Mikenne blocked Marrek's way, intimidating.

"Just what the Hell are you doing?", the red-haired runner asked him, angrily. "You aren't supposed to run a frame anymore!", she added, angrily. She wasn't worried about Marrek's condition, she just wanted him to leave because she knew he would be more trouble than what he was worth.

"My squad has been quite rebel lately, and so, I think it's time to show all of you who's in charge here", Marrek replied, preparing another attack.

His Minotaur-like frame stepped backwards, and then rushed forward, with one of its arms wielding a Metatron sword. With the help of its head and the Metatron sword, he sliced and opened a frame in two half's, killing the UNSF soldier immediately after striking its unit.

Mikenne sighed, annoyed and worried. He always tried to show how good he was. In that aspect, Ruth and him were meant for each other, according to her. But now, he was just pretending to be a good runner, when everyone knew he could barely drive a car. That was another of the things that she just hated about him: his arrogance.

The Minotaur turned back and faced the red Ifrit, waiting for a reply.

Mikenne arched an eyebrow. "You don't impress me", she told him, coldly. "You won't earn our respect by killing more guys than us, nor by killing us. Because I think that I already know what are you going to do with us, as long as we keep on ignoring your orders".

"I'm glad you are intelligent enough to realize the way things are", Marrek said, looking down at her. He turned back, and this time, he charged against Warren's Durandal. This time, his frame's arms turned into two Metatron lances, which he used to crush the BIS unit, catching it by surprise.

Warren's frame shocked violently, and after a rather long struggle, he could get rid of it. Wounded, the blueish frame left the place, getting closer to the Calibur, which would restore part of its energy, when Myona could get rid of the harassing UNSF.

Marrek turned back and start following the Durandal II, but some shots at his frame's legs prevented him from moving any further. Turning back, he found Mikenne charging against him with her Ifrit's Rusty Cutter blade.

Quickly, he grabbed the Ifrit by its arms, and pushed her backwards. Mikenne almost fell down, but managed to knelt down and regain some balance before falling down.

"Nice acrobatics", Marrek teased her, walking past her.

However, Mikenne wasn't going to let him walk much, as she started firing at him with the Tear Blast, until she made him fall down. Quickly, she got up, and with her Rusty Cutter pointing to the Minotaur's throat, she yelled, "Didn't you understand a word of what I said? I'm the one in charge in this battlefield, and you shouldn't be here, so get out from here!"

Marrek looked at her strange. At this time, he regretted not being in the base, where he could control her. Maybe he would have to ask someone to install that program on the Minotaur, after all. "You wouldn't dare, would you?"

Without replying, Mikenne slashed the Minotaur at its chest, coldly.

Marrek swallowed, astonished. Apparently, the little robot wanted to start feeling and acting at its own... "Since I'm in no position to negotiate, I guess I'll have to give in", he said, defeated. Slowly, he stood up, and stared at the battlefield. BIS vs. UNSF vs. BAHRAM... what a match! How much could he resist not to join the others? "Anyway, you'll have to keep an eye on me. I don't know how much I'll resist running this preciousness", he said, walking away.

Mikenne wasn't paying much attention to him, but at her hands. She couldn't understand how she did to slash Marrek's frame on her own. She had never damaged a superior, until now. It had to be her first disobeyed order, and it felt... strange. However, she didn't have much time to think about it, not with Marrek free to do his monstrosities.

"You bet!", she replied back at him, angrily. Then, she walked in his direction, ready to join the fight, and determined to stop him at his first try of doing something strange.

* * *

After a long run, Hazel was now in one of the Spaceport's abandoned hangars. It took her some time to find it, they all looked the same from the outside. She was a bit terrified. Maybe someone had already taken for him or herself what she had hidden there, and that now she was looking desperately for. 

Fortunately, no one noticed that hangar, as the greyish-blueish frame Athenea -previously Tempus Fugit for her and everyone in... uggh, BIS- was still standing there, solemn as ever.

Hazel stared at it, while she tried to catch up with her breath. Looking at it, made her heart ache, bringing back to her all those terrible memories. But on the other hand, she felt attached to it, for some mysterious reason. It was something beyond reason. She knew it wasn't for the casual, scary resemblance to her -both frame and runner were blueish and greyish, as the frame's colors matched perfectly with Hazel's light blue hair and gray eyes, just as the frame. That was just a coincidence, even if she was starting to doubt the existence of those.

She felt angry with herself for not having the guts to destroy that damned thing. There were lots of ways of getting rid of it: destroying it, either by a self-destruction mechanism or by burning it, somehow. That could be too risky, and she could be harmed in the process; ironically enough, she didn't want to know anything about killing herself.

She could try to sell it in the black market, but she didn't want to harm more people. In that case, she could leave it abandoned in the wasteland, or somewhere else far from her. She didn't do any of those things. Instead, she just left her in her very new workplace. She couldn't understand why she did it. Maybe because those hangars in that far side from the spaceport were abandoned for over a decade, or because she didn't know they belonged to it, at first, but either way, she ended up near it, somehow. But she didn't care where she hid it; what she couldn't understand was the reason why she decided to keep it, and the reason why she told her cousin and the other girls that she had made it disappear.

She stared at the frame with hate, genuine hate coming from her eyes. She hated flying objects, she hated OFs and most of all, she hated Metatron with all her soul. That unknown raw material had gotten every thing she had ever had away from her, in a slow, yet precise way. For it, his father went to several different places dragging, her and her mother behind it. They had died by it, ironically. Ironically, she ended up working at Corindon Labs, a Metatron research center. Then, she found that OF that was now standing before her. And she couldn't get rid of it. She hated Metatron, it was true. But she hated even more what she was going to do.

While she glared at her OF, the frame looked back at her quietly, with an eternal, slim smile. It wasn't her imagination; Hazel could have sworn that the frame was staring at her, just as she was doing with it. No, it wasn't just staring at her. The Athenea was smiling at her, as if she already knew what was going on in Hazel's mind, and it was feeling proud of it.

Suddenly, Hazel noticed that she had just thought of her OF as a person, rather than the Metatron machine it was. At that instant, she could have sworn again that she did saw a wider smile at the Athenea's lips.

Cold chills run through Hazel's back. It was sort of terrifying. It was a creepy idea thinking that OFs could actually think and feel on its own. What if the Athenea decided to start doing what she wanted, ignoring Hazel's commands? Could that have been the case of the frame that attacked the Bonaparte III?

She closed her fists, angrily. She knew that one wasn't the case of the so-called accident. That bastard had already confessed it, and he even made a weird excuse about mind-control, or something stupid like that. Ha, sure, mind-control at this day and age... At least, she now had the best excuse to tell him before killing him, if only she had the guts...

Hazel kept on staring at the armored maiden... Athenea... one of the many names for the Greek Goddess of Wisdom... Hazel just hoped she just knew what she was doing...

Once in the cockpit, Hazel sighed, worried. She hated herself at this point. She hated Metatron, and there she was, running the Athenea once again, with the intention of joining those difficult to hate BIS people...

* * *

In some unknown way, Ruth found herself surrounded by the UNSF frames and LEVs. How did that happen, she didn't know, as she always kept an eye around to avoid this kind of situations. This time, things were different. She spent more time checking her frame's status, dodging attacks from both BIS and the UNSF, and maybe missed attacks from her companions, who had missed their objective but the Metatron blasts kept on going, striking the first thing they found in their unconscious way. 

Either way, there she was now, facing the ever-decaying energy that her frame had left. It had never happened to her, but she had never had such an enemy like Marrek before. Making himself unnoticed to the others, he kept on firing his deadly Metatron shots against her most of the time. She tried to counter-attack him, but there was always someone in the middle, disturbing her. One of the biggest advantages of the Minotaur prototype was that it exceled in long range attack, having the ability to guide the Metatron blast coming from its abdomen and hands, unlike many other frames, whose shots were straight.

Ethan was playing the "responsible brother" this time, as he had been close to her since Marrek's first attack, and she was grateful to him for that. Without his help, she would have been dead by now.

But if she kept on standing in the battlefield, she would end up like that: dead. She realized that she had no other option but to try to leave the area unnoticed, and swallow her pride.

Slowly, she tried leaving through the east, but the UNSF was there, blocking her way. She couldn't go to the west, because Marrek was there, and scattered around was the BIS gang, doing their best against the two enemies.

Two shots came straight to her, and she started feeling real fear. She couldn't resist much more. If she couldn't leave in the next five minutes or less, she wouldn't make it to the end of the battle. She knew that this was the beginning of the end...

Memories... some say that when you are dying, your whole life passes throught your eyes. Different images of her past were sliding quickly through Ruth's eyes. Her childhood, when everything was so easy and innocent and the world were just a big playground. Her time at school, always trying to excel. Her teenage years. Her father's dead and his tomb. Her time at the Army. The fatidic day that she had met Marrek. Everything slided in her mind, summing up her life.

"Ethan... tell Mom that I'm sorry and that I loved her...", she whispered softly, with her eyes closed as her tears fall across her cheeks. Her fate was clear and close, it was unavoidable...

"Ruth, what are you talking about?", her twin managed to ask her, confused, kicking an UNSF LEV and getting rid of Semyl, who was attacking him at a close distance, by pushing her backwards, at the same time.

"What you've heard", she just said, trying to remain calm. "I don't think I'll be able to get away from this one. My frame can't take any more damage...", she told him, nervously.

Ethan made a bitter silence, unable to believe what he was hearing.

She bit her lip, sadened. "Sorry for dragging you into all this... If it wasn't for me, you would be at ease at home, enjoying your own life..."

"Stop with that. I've followed you here, I'm also to blame", he interrupted her, serious.

"Ethan, I love you", Ruth told him, smiling and with tears falling across her cheeks. "I just wish I could stay longer", she said, feeling guilty for the way she had spent her last years. "I wish I could start everything since Dad's death... or that I could survive this to begin everything from the very beginning..."

"Just get out, I'll cover you!", her twin exclaimed, shielding her frame from a wayward blast of Metatron. "Let's leave this Hell, just as you had planned it before!", he proposed her, while firing back to the Caliburnus, who was now getting closer, as Semyl tried to evade the UNSF forces.

Ruth smiled, thankful. Quickly, she manuvered her frame to turn back and rush to the north, where there were no frames. It was the first step to her lately desired freedom.

A missing shot stroke her frame directly, near the core. For an unknown shot, it had been quite directed to its target.

Inside the cockpit, Ruth knew that it was the end. She saw her frame's halth stats descending greatly, but even without looking at them, she knew that the end was at her door. The frame felt different after being hit. "Dad... wait for me... I'm going...", she whispered softly, just for herself, and closed her eyes, just as the fatal chain reaction started to take place on her frame's core.

Castor shooked violently for a while before falling down on its face, dead. As it fall, the communication with it was lost. The frame wouldn't move, and . It was all over

"Ruth, can you hear me?", Ethan asked nervously.

No one replied.

"Ruth, don't start joking. Say something!", her twin demanded, annoyed.

As he received no answer, he tried contacting Castor again, without success. He checked for vital signs on the frame. He found none.

_It couldn't be happening..._

He tried once more, wishing that his senses were betraying him. He received no answer. He tried again and again, and still, no answer.

Lost in his thoughts, Ethan leaned back in the cockpit, numbed. It couldn't be happening... Ruth couldn't be dead. She just couldn't. She was his twin, she can't die so young... or could she?

He tried another time. He didn't care about the battle that was taking place next to him, he just wanted to hear his twin's voice. He needed to hear Ruth yelling at him for not attacking back and being in the middle of the battlefield receiving each single shot without doing anything about it.

He tried for the last time, and he got no answer. He closed his eyes, and leant back again, lifeless. It was as if the entire sky had fallen down on him.

Without thinking it, he drove his frame next to the Castor, and knelt down by its side, hoping that his twin would get up, just as she did before.

Mikenne stared at the sibling frames seriously, feeling sorry for Ethan and for Ruth's fate. It was time to leave. "Ethan, everyone, we are leaving!", she yelled, firmly, while shielding one of her frames from an UNSF attack.

Marrek chuckled. "We aren't going anywhere. There are still more enemies to defeat", he said, defiantly.

Mikenne shoot at his frame, enraged. "It's not the time to think in that! One of our runners have fall down, we can't go on fighting! Besides, I'm the one in charge here, and I say that we have to retreat!"

Marrek looked at Mikenne surprised as he dodged her attack. She had never attacked a superior in her entire life. Things were getting tougher than expected.

"Come on, we are leaving!", she ordered again, this time pointing at the Minotaur with her Ifrit's Rusty Cutter. She had to make sure that her boss wouldn't fire at Ethan this time.

Marrek looked down, as he had no other thing to do but to obey. Slowly, he turned back, and started the retreat, shortly followed by the unmanned and minor units that were still functioning.

Mikenne followed him, analyzing every single one of Marrek's movements. "Ethan... we are leaving. Don't stay too much, I can't guarantee your safety if you stay here", she told him softly, trying to give him some strength, even if they weren't in the best of terms right now.

"I'm going", Ethan finally said, coldly. Right after that, he switched off his communicator, as he just wanted to be alone.

Mikenne understood, and went on walking, without turning back.

Pollux stood up with Castor in its arms, and slowly, it followed its companions.

No one was battling right now, as everyone stared at the two frames as they left. It was a heartbreaking sight to see the fallen sibling being carried by the saddened one. The frames seemed terribly human at that time. It was as if the real Greek Pollux was carrying his murdered brother Castor, with the intention of asking his divine father Zeus to end with his life, in order to join his twin, because there was no other life without him.

A UNSF officer was the one who broke the silence. "I think it's enough. Let's go!", he ordered, already leaving.

No one opposed that order, and so, the UNSF started their retreat slowly, leaving the BIS team all alone in the Martian wasteland

* * *

Just as the last UNSF frames had disappeared from their view, a new one appeared. However, this one was a friendly one, or so the BIS members hoped. 

Slowly, the Athenea approached the BIS team.

"I know I'm late, you don't have to say it", Hazel said as some sort of greeting. "I've tried to come faster, but well, I couldn't"

"Haze, you are back!", Cynthia screamed, overjoyed.

Hazel smiled lightly. "I was sort of missing you, fuss-maker", she greeted her cousin, cheerfully.

Cynthia frowned, offended. "Excuse me? I wasn't the one who put BIS upside-down with some hostile attitude", she said, hitting her right in her soft spot. However, Hazel was back, and so she could forgive her everything.

"She couldn't have summed it up in a better way", Yukito got into the chat, smiling. "Can we say 'welcome back'?", he asked Hazel, curiously.

"It's too early for that", Hazel said, annoyed. "In fact, I've just came to lend Cynthia a hand before she was turn to dust, but luckily for her, the others retreated before"

"Oh, yes, because you are such a tough, skilled, whatever else runner", Cynthia made fun of her, acting offended.

"Hey, Hazel, I think you should came with us... at least to talk with all of us", Myona suggested her shyly from her post at the support LEV.

"Myona's right, Hazel", Robin told her from the Saoshyant, calmly. "You had just run away from us, and we couldn't even tell you our point of view, nor anything, for that matter"

Hazel stood there, thoughtfully. Why? Just why was she so weak? "I... don't think that to be necessary", she said, trying to remain firmly in her attitude.

"It is necessary", the white haired leader repeated, strongly. "You have made your own conclusions of the entire situation without listening to our part of the story, and you have already judged us. Even if Cynthia had explained things a bit, we would still want to hear the story from your own mouth"

Hazel protested annoyed. "Why do you want to hear it again! Can't you see that it's still very painful to me?", she asked, hurt. She was about to turn back and run away from there when Mebius called her, anxiously.

"You have never said a thing about it, so how could you expect us to imagine that you had gone through all that?", the blonde woman asked Hazel. "Don't be so stubborn and come with us, at least for a little while. You don't have to tell us anything that you don't want, if you don't feel like it"

Hazel stopped her frame, thoughtfully. She didn't want to be that stubborn to leave and left the others with their words on their mouth, but she didn't want to go back there, repeat her entire story and face Ares... sorry, Vale, every instant of her stay there.

On the other hand, the others weren't to blame for his actions... or were they? They had been covering a mass murderer, so how could she trust in them again? Or better said, how could she try to trust in some person again, after being deceived like that?

"Hazel, are you still there?", Robin asked, anxiously.

A long silence preceded her answer. "Alright, I'll go", the silent youth replied, sighing. "But don't expect me to be friendly, talkative or whatever. I won't stay much, also"

"Do as you wish", Robin replied, smiling. "No one will force you to stay"

"Even if you don't want to admit it, I'll welcome you back, dear cousin", Cynthia teased her, smiling broadly.

Hazel blushed and looked in another direction, lost in her thoughts. She couldn't be locked in herself for her entire life. She had to give herself another opportunity. She had to give them another opportunity... well, not to all of them.

A mosaic popped up in her screen, showing the rest of the BIS members, apart from her cousin, who had been on screen, as she had been the last one to talk to her. Everyone seemed to look sympathetic at her, instead of angry, as she would have expected. Even Ares was there, with his normal, taciturn aspect. His only presence made Hazel's heart ache. Maybe returning to BIS wasn't such a good idea, after all...

Slowly, the frames started their way back to the Saoshyant. No one talked, everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, all of them caught a signal in their radar.

Fearing the worst, they turned back, and saw a small, old civilian LEV coming in their way. The LEV driver seemed to be confused about the entire setting, as it stopped its machine engine and stayed there, in hesitation.

"Crap, what the Hell I'm doing here!", a female voice could be heard in the open wave space area. "Who the Hell ask me to go after her?"

Hazel blinked twice, surprised. "Arantxa, is that you?", the blue-haired girl asked, astonished.

The female voice on the other side of the communication thanked in her native, Spanish tongue. "I thought I had lost you!", Arantxa said, cheerfully. "Considering my luck, I thought I had followed the 'bad guys' and that I was going to be imprisoned for being in the wasteland all on my own, without any coherent excuse!"

"What are you doing here?", Hazel just asked her back, still surprised.

"Heck, I thought you would be happy of seeing me again!", the black haired young woman complaint, annoyed. "I was worried about you. At first, I thought you were just going to hide on the bathroom, but when I saw that you had already walked past it and didn't enter, I thought you had something else in your mind than just complaining about your life", she explained. "Then, when I saw that thing I couldn't let you go that easily... without knowing what were you planning"

"I see", the gray eyed girl said, sighing.

"Hey, who's that one?", Cynthia asked her cousin, curiously. Suddenly, she got somewhat jealous, as she hadn't known that her cousin had more friends, apart from herself.

"Ups, sorry", Hazel apologized, quickly. "She's Arantxa, a co-worker from the Spaceport"

"Hi there!", the mentioned girl greeted back. "I suppose you are the BIS people, aren't you?", she asked, friendly. "Where have you forgotten your manners, Hazel? I hope you'll introduce them to me sometime, you know..."

Hazel sighed, now worried. Why on Earth did she befriend someone like her? "You don't mean that you are trying to come with us?", she asked, fearing her acquaintance's answer.

"Don't tell me that you plan leaving me all alone in this wasteland?", Arantxa asked her back, offended. "Let me go with you until I reach some civilian area, then", she begged. Anyway, she had just remembered that she had an important card hidden... "Besides, I know the full story behind the Labs", she said, acting innocently.

Hazel sighed. Arantxa had won, and she'd just have to take her with her to BIS headquarters.

"Which Labs?", Robin asked, curious. She didn't like the idea of taking in a complete stranger, but apparently, this one could be an invaluable source of information.

"I can sense interest there", Arantxa said, laughing. "I had also worked with Hazel at Corindon Labs, the ones that had been attacked some weeks... wait, months ago", she explained, smiling. "Ask her, and you'll see it's true"

"It is", Hazel said, before anyone asked her.

Robin didn't think it twice. "Alright, she can come", she just said.

Arantxa smiled, satisfied. "Thank you. I won't let you down"

"Robin, you can't be serious!", Twede protested right at her back, angrily. "This is a military organization, not the Salvation Army!"

Robin rolled her eyes. "She may be useful, Twede. Aren't you having some trouble cracking the data that the Angels had given us? Maybe she knows what is inside that"

Twede mumbled some cursing at his computer hacking ability.

Slowly, the BIS squad, along with Arantxa and Hazel, made their way to the Saoshyant... With Ruth's death, the intrusion of the UNSF, the return of Hazel and the appearance of a new data-bringer, everyone knew, at heart, that things wouldn't be the same from then on.

* * *

Hi, there! Finally, we have reached another dramatic plot-twist... 

I learnt to love my "villains", but I just couldn't skip this scene, which was planned before I learnt to love them (well, everyone except Marrek, he's still a jerk). It's been strange to write this, as I became reluctant to this already planned event, but on the other hand, it's like the trigger for the events to come, so I couldn't skip it.

Talking about the future of this fic, all I have to say is that we are getting close to the end, only that I can't tell how many chapters I have left. If I go on splitting the contents of my chapters, it will take much longer than expected. I know I have to take my time and do things well, so I can have some quality (good, bad, decent, whatever) story, and not a bunch of unchained action tied all together. But I also want to stop writing this one, so I can think in what I should do next (anyway, would you believe me that I have some ideas for a loose sequel? I think I should stop with all this, it'll drive me mad :P)

Oh, and sorry for the last winny "review this thing" thing. It was just my anxiety playing with my hands. So well, forgive my hands... er, my anxiety! P. It's just that, well... just anxiety to know what others thought of the fic. I won't bother you with that anymore (I hope! P). At least, I'll try... I promise!

Well, enough small talk. See you next chapter...

Oh, something important that I always forget including: the infamous Disclaimer. I don't own neither Zone of the Enders nor its related characters, mechas, etc. I just took them for the fun of writing a fan, non-cannon sequel. However, I do own the original characters and mechas introduced in this fic. Just tell me if you want to use them (I don't think you would, but hey, I just had to say it :P)


	20. Fallen Facade

Chapter 20: "Fallen Facade"

Ethan got into his twin's room, and closed the door with its key, making sure that no one would disturb him.

Right there, in her bed, Ruth's body laid. She looked just as if she were sound asleep, eventhough she would never wake up from that sleep. Even if her death had been quite violent, she had an aspect of peace that made her look quite lively and natural in her death. At least, she was now in peace, at long last.

Too bad that it was going to be too difficult to live without her.

Ethan sat down next to her deceased twin's body, and stared at her. He had to feel happy for her, as she had escaped from BAHRAM's control, yet he couldn't, because escaping had meant loosing her life.

Marrek had done it, it was obvious. If only Mikenne hadn't stood in between, he would have already avenged his sister right when they had returned, at the hangar. But he couldn't take the risk of killing two people instead of the one he just wanted.

If only he had been more alert to Marrek's behavior on battle. It was too suspicious having him in the battlefield, from where he had been banned. Now, he knew why he had gone there.

He should have stopped attacking BIS and flied over to his sister, who needed him. After all, he didn't have anything against the BIS guys, even if he was an Earth officer playing the Martian renegade to cover the position that his sister left when she became infatuated with Marrek. If only that bastard had never been born...

Ethan kept on staring at his sister, devastated. A few hours ago, he was happy that she wanted to escape and re-start her life, and now... she was not longer alive. She had been so cheerful and friendly those last days...

He didn't know what to do. He couldn't kill Marrek right there, because he would get killed, or caught. And if he got caught, he would be tortured, as they would easily find out that he was a spy. Not that he cared much, but, on the other hand, he had to avenge Ruth. He couldn't let her die in vain. And he couldn't leave her in Mars, not after she said that she yearned for home, and home stood for Earth... Now, how was he going to tell their mother that Ruth was dead? He needed to return home as soon as possible... He needed some Earthian air to think better about everything.

Maybe, when he returns to Earth, he should talk to Colonel Boer and ask him for assistance. After all the hard work he had done for him, the least he deserved was a little of help to avenge Ruth's death.

----

Hazel stared at the door, hesitantly. It was useless, she had no way of leaving, she was in the middle of nowhere, aboard the Saoshyant. Anyway, she didn't want to get into the main room and meet all the members of BIS. She wasn't prepared yet. She didn't know how she would react at their pitiful, friendly faces, but most importantly, she didn't know how she would react when she saw him... However, she had no other way out. Resigned, she took a deep breath and opened the door, gently.

Effectively, she found the entire BIS group sitting around the table, staring expectantly at the door, while Arantxa sat on one of the sofas and Cynthia waited for her, near the door. Once she had closed the door, Cynthia hugged her as if it would be the last time she could do it.

"I'm fine", Hazel told her cousin, rather bluntly. "Now, let me be. I can't breathe"

Cynthia knew that her cousin was being mean to her because she was too nervous, that's why she didn't complain about it. She already knew that the tougher her cousin tried to look like, the worst she was feeling, emotionally.

"Well, Hazel, hello again", Robin greeted the light-blue haired girl, slightly awkwardly. "How have you been?"

"Fine", Hazel just replied, coldly. "Like I always do"

"I see", the light-haired BIS leader said, thoughtfully. It was going to be a tough talk, for the looks of it.

"How's the Spaceport?", Yukito asked, just to bring some topic and relax the already tense atmosphere. "Did you bring us something from the duty free shop?", he teased her, winking at her.

Hazel chuckled, against her will. However, Yukito's easy joke was tempting to her. "I couldn't", she said, trying to remain serious and cold. "When I left, everyone was hooked at the giant plasmas, so I couldn't get anything", she told the green haired man. "I bet I'm fired now, so the least you could all do for me is to get me a new job"

"That makes us two", Arantxa said, raising her hand. "I think I'm also fired, after running away after you like I did"

"No one told you to go after me", Hazel nagged her, annoyed.

"You looked way too suspicious", the black haired woman said, naturally. "I wasn't going to let you go like that"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "I'm big enough to look after myself..."

"... and to run away to the bathroom to cry", her companion interrupted her. "Yeah, I already knew that", she said, chuckling.

Hazel glared at her, blushing.

"Well, we didn't ask you to come, but we'll try to get you something decent", Robin said, smiling. "Anyway, thanks. And now that you brought up the topic, I see that you hadn't distroyed the frame, as you told the girls"

Hazel sighed, annoyed with herself. "It's true. I didn't have the guts to do it, but trust me that if I had been stronger and fearless, I would have done it", she said, defiantly. "Those things just keep on separating people, they are nothing but murdering chambers and mass destruction weapons"

In some way, what Hazel had just said was the plain truth. But BIS depended on them to struggle for their believes, as well as BAHRAM and the UNSF. Without them, war as they knew it those days wouldn't exist, but that doesn't mean that there would be peace all over the Solar System.

"But then why did you tell us that you had gotten rid of it when we asked you about it?", Semyl asked, curious.

Hazel made a slight grin. "How could you expect me to hand over that thing, if I was angry at all of you?", she asked, sarcastically. "Besides, I was even more angry because you started talking about me and then switched to the frame, so I thought that you just wanted that Metatron damned thing"

Semyl blushed, as she was the one who had asked about the frame. "Sorry" she mumbled, but it was so low that no one heard her.

"Well, then, you hid the frame, lied to us about its status, and then you came to help us", Warren summed up. "Now, why did you do that, if you were so angry at us?"

Hazel bit her lip, thoughtfully. "I'm still angry, only that... I just felt that I had to help, in a way. About the frame, I didn't tear it into pieces because I'm nothing but a coward. It's just that. On the other hand, it was better to have it, rather than to sell it. Even if I would make a lot of money, enough to live really well for quite some years, I would feel terrible if it were used to kill even more people"

"Well, then we should thank your guilt, then", Robin stated, smiling friendly.

Hazel nodded, confused. "I guess so", she said, shrugging. "Anyway, even if I'm mad, I felt the need of helping you, guys, because... because...", she started saying, but then she couldn't go on. She couldn't say that she cared for them, because she felt betrayed by them. Admitting that she still felt something for them would be another betrayal to herself, so she didn't know what to say.

"... because you wanted to kick our asses all by yourself?", Razma asked, winking at her.

Hazel couldn't resist smiling, tempted. Maybe they still liked her, at least a little... Maybe it was better to accept what she had, rather than venturing out to get something new. And right now, with thier virtues and flaws, BIS was everything she had. If only the one who ruined her life wouldn't be there... she would return, surely.

"Anyway", I think that there are still some things you have to tell us", Robin demanded, seriously. "What about the Labs? The Mars Angels have given us some data that we are trying to crack open... You can't say you didn't know anything about them"

Hazel looked down, embarrassed. What could she say now, if BIS's leader already made clear that she wouldn't believe what was the truth to her?

"Don't be hard on her, she didn't know anything about it until some days ago", Arantxa explained, coming in Hazel's rescue.

"And why do you say that, if we can know?", Twede asked her, despectively. He disliked the latest newcomer, for some reason, even if he had no evidence to think anything against or in favour of her.

"Because I've been working there for a long time, and so I knew much more than what she did", the black haired woman said, seriously. "She didn't know a word about the Labs, only what outsiders knew"

Everyone stared at the black haired woman, surprised. Hazel kept on staring at her with a grateful expression, happy that she had come to help her.

"Then, tell us what you know", Robin asked, friendly, yet commanding.

"Alright, the thing is like this", Arantxa started, cracking her knuckles in order to relax herself. "Hazel and I worked at the former Corindon Labs, which were attacked by some unknown forces -now identified as BAHRAM- a few months ago. Hazel worked at the Administrative Area, focusing on commercial and inventory issues. Basically, she knew nothing about the activities of the Labs, other than it was a LEV maintenance and production facility. She was nothing but... a pawn, to call it some way", she explained, gesturing as she spoke. "She wasn't the only one, trust me. Bsaically all the ones who worked in the Administrative, Marketing and Transport Areas believed that"

"And where did you work?", Warren asked.

"I also worked at the Administrative areas, tutoring new employees when they came, and doing other manual stuff. But for some reason or other, I have the gift -to call it somehow- of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, or at the correct place at the correct time, as you want to see it", she said, grinning. "It's too scary, but it happened too many times in my life", she added, her eyes lost somewhere else, deep down in her memory. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't like that!", she said, with a complete different attitude now, as if she had mentally shook her head, erasing the sad memories that talking about her "gift" had brought to her.

"Scary...", Cynthia whispered, cautiously.

"Anyway", Arantxa went on, naturally, "I once saw more than what I should, and so I ended up being obviouslly like an overall assistant for the scientists -who had found me out. Not that I understand much of those things, but they needed someone who knew just what they wanted him or her to know, and who would do some little works for them, without asking many questions. So that was me", she said, sighing.

"But what did you see?", Razma asked, interested in that story.

"One of those guys sent me to one of the Labs inside the complex, and so I found out that they worked with Orbital Frames, while they weren't suppossed to have that technology", Arantxa said, seriously. "They didn't want anyone to know. They had the 'real' Labs in another complex. I don't know why they told me to deliver those papers to that Lab at that time, but well, that's how I found out their "illegal activities", because as you already know, Martians can't handle that technology, unless it is either NUT or the Ryan Corporation"

"But are you sure that Corindon Labs wasn't involved with any of those companies?", Mebius asked, slightly confused with the entire affair.

"I would have known it before", Robin said first, before Arantxa could talk. "I knew perfectly well which Labs had some kind of relation with NUT while I was there, and I never heard of that name by then. Besides, I still have my contacts, and I can assure you that they aren't involved with each other", she added, staring at Twede with a complice grin.

"They didn't work for any of those companies, but for Earth", the black haired woman said, quickly and calmly.

Everyone stared at her, surprised. Just what she wanted. For once, Arantxa felt how it was to be powerful and like the owner of the truth, even if she wasn't. "You haven't expected that, have you?", she asked, entertained by the entire situation.

"It's just that... it's weird!", Cynthia protested, confused. "Why hadn't the UNSF come sooner if one of Earth's suppliers had been attacked?", she asked, following her growing diplomat logic.

"Maybe because they didn't want to make it that obvious", Arantxa said, shrugging. "I don't have the slightest idea. Maybe they had already got what they needed, and so Corindon Labs was useless for them at that time"

"It's not improbable, if we follow Earth's logic", Yukito said, thoughtfully. "However, it just looks like a movie made around a conspiracy theory, if you ask me"

"Then I should hire an agent, with all the things that had been happening to us", Myona said, sighing. "If someone's going to make a movie about me, I want my part", she added, making reference to the money issue.

"Then, following the movie, BAHRAM found out Corindon Labs activities, and so they attacked. Evidently, the scientists were expecting it, as they were the first ones in leaving. The entire complex turned into a chaos, and from that day, no one returned to that place to work", Warren filled in the gaps.

"And what happened to the scientists?", Semyl asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they were eventually kidnapped by BAHRAM, and murdered by now, or they are working for them. I don't know", Arantxa had to admit. "I tried to find their whereabouts, but I couldn't find anything. I know that BAHRAM attacked the houses of one or two, but I don't know what happened then"

"But then, why did they leave Hazel behind, if she didn't know anything?", Razma asked.

"I don't know", Arantxa said, shrugging. "Maybe they wanted to fool BAHRAM by leaving behind someone who didn't know a thing about the real activities and research hold on the Labs. That's the most reasonable explanation I can find. Besides, in the entire rush, Hazel got hurt, and nobody noticed that she was left behind. Maybe someone locked her in a room so the 'enemies' wouldn't find her, instead of dragging her outside"

"If they wanted to fire me, they only had to say it", Hazel said, shrugging. "I wouldn't have protested much".

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what else to say. Everything had already been said, and no one looked like eager to make some other comment about the situation.

"Did you say that you got some data from the Labs that you can't open?", she asked, thoughtfully, breaking the silent atmosphere.

"Yes, why?", Robin asked, now more interested.

"How did you got it?", the black haired young woman asked, thoughtfully.

"The Mars Angels gave it to us, as a 'thank you' gift for having helped them out when the BAHRAM squad found them and attacked them at your former workplace. Anyway, we still can't take a look at it"

"Let me try later, maybe I still remember the password", she suggested, politely.

"Twede, it looks like you have just lost your post as BIS's official 'data man'", Robin teased his secretary, giggling.

Twede just bit his lower lip, irritated. He didn't like the newcomer, after all. If she knew so many things from her previous work, who could assure him that she wouldn't sell the data that she gathered in BIS in the future?

"Nah, I don't think so", Arantxa said, lowering her hand as she talked. "It's just that I'm always in the correct place at the correct time", she explained, smiling. "Or in the wrong place at the wrong time. It just depends on the situation. It's just like a gift: it can be a blessing or a curse"

"I think I've heard that somewhere else", Yukito stated thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "But I just can't recall where"

Arantxa giggled, but didn't say a thing.

"Well, girls, are you staying?", Mebius asked, cheerfully.

"Both of them?", Twede asked, sort of terrified at the idea of that black-haired chatterbox staying with them. He could stand Hazel, but that other girl... that was too much for him.

"I'm fine in my place, thank you", Hazel turned down the offer, instantly.

Cynthia made a forced laugh. "Don't make me laugh, Haz. That so called hotel where you are staying looks like a shanty-town... You can't feel comfortable on that thing!"

Hazel blushed, both annoyed and embarrased. "It's not that bad", she defended herself. "It's enough for me, so I'm fine with it. You think it's terrible because you have been born in a golden craddle"

"It wasn't golden, but silver", her cousin teased her, smiling. "But that hotel is really depressing, trust me"

"If you want, you can stay here", Robin offered, friendly. "No one has gotten into your room while you weren't here, so you'll find everything as it was the day you left"

"No one will force you to stay if you don't want to", Mebius told her, smiling.

Hazel thought for a couple of seconds. It was a tempting offer. Her hotel was disastrous, even if she didn't want to admit it. And her department wasn't ready to live yet... Staying at the Saoshyant was the most atractive offer she had right now... she wouldn't be that lonely, at least... She would stay for a couple of days, until she could get something better...

"I guess... I guess that you win", the light blue-haired girl said, slowly. "At least until I can get a better place to live"

"Well, then, welcome back!", Robin greeted her again, smiling. "What about you?", she asked, now turning to Arantxa.

"Me?", the black haired youth asked, half surprised, half cheerfully. "I already have something that I can call 'home', even if it's just a room, so I guess I'll have to turn down the offer", she explained. "But I could give it a shot, at least for a couple of hours. I assume I'm welcome here, considering that you had asked me if I wanted to stay, even if I barely know you", she added, triumphally.

"Well... you can turn useful, somehow", Robin said, shrugging. "At least, you look like a invaluable source of information"

Arantxa laughed. "Looks like I've become a Data Lady", she said, winking. "Alright, I don't have contacts everywhere, but I'll see what I can do. Where do you want me to start?"

"Can you get us more information about the Labs?", Robin asked, at once.

"I don't think so", Arantxa denied, shrugging. "I've told you all the info I had, and you know it wasn't little, precisely. But I'll get my hands on that unknown data and I'll try to crack it"

"We've seen that", Cage said, whistling.

"Well, I guess it's all for now", Warren said, sort of impatiently. "I'm off to the hangar", he said, leaving as soon as he had said that.

Quickly, the different members started standing up in order to resume whatever they were doing before Twede warned them about the new battle.

Hazel stood up and left quickly to her room, as soon as she could, avoiding everyone who would want to talk to her. She wasn't feeling like talking right now. She still had to think why she accepted to return, in the first place. Then, maybe she could try to talk a bit...

Cage and Myona walked to Ares's side, who hadn't moved a finger since Hazel left the room. All the others had already left.

"Are you alright?", Myona asked her brother, concerned. Worryness was already arising in her eyes.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me", he calmed her down, trying to smile. "I won't say anything, at least for now"

"Are you sure you are alright?", Cage insisted, also concerned. He couldn't leave his best friend and possible brother-in-law alone, not after all that he had done for him. However, Ares was a quite difficult to help, as he would never let anyone do such a thing.

"Do I look that touched?", the light-haired youth asked, surprised.

Myona and Cage looked at each other, trying to find an answer that wouldn't hurt the already emotionally hurt young man.

"Alright, I see", Ares said, sighing. Something had to be wrong, for the others to notice that he wasn't well. Maybe it had to do that he was tired. Tired of struggling and always fail, either by other's actions of by his own, or because of his past. Maybe it was time to give up... "Hey, I'll be ok. If you need me, I'll be at the hangar", he said, naturally, before leaving the room.

Cage stared at Myona, thoguhtfully. "Shall we believe in him?", he asked her, worried.

Myona bit her lip, concerned. "I don't know...", she admitted. "I don't think he'll do anything against himself, but he still worries me... Well, it's obvious because he's my brother, but still... I think he's giving up", she whispered, saddened. She was afraid that would be true.  
"Giving up?", Cage asked, confused.

"He always tried to look calm and natural in any case. When we escaped from Zephyrs's Labs, he was always smiling to me, so I could try to forget all those hardships we've gone through. He would give me his food, so I wouldn't feel hunger, while he... He always looked stronger and acted as if he had been the most normal person in the world when we were alone, so I didn't suffer", she said, in rememberance. "And I... I can't find a way to help him, to give him back all the love and happyness that he had given me in those black days. I think he wants all this to end somehow, and he doesn't try to hide his state, so that's why I say that he has already given up", she explained, angsty.

Cage embraced his girlfriend, trying to ease the pain in her heart. "Calm down, honey", she whispered to her at the ear. "We'll find a way to help your stubborn brother. I'm also in debt to him, and I don't want to see him suffer like that"

"Sometimes I think that he would be better dead than alive", Myona whispered, then bit her tongue when she realized that she had said that.

However, Cage didn't seem scandalized at that thought. "You mean that because you don't want to see him suffering, do you?", he asked her.

Myona nodded, silently. "He would have felt better that way. He would have felt that he had repaired what he had done, and he wouldn't have a tragic past coming back to him every time he tries to re-do his life".

Cage stared at her. "Why do you say "every time"?", he asked, curiously.

"Because after we escaped from those Labs, we wanted to try to live again like normal people. But then Jimmer found us and well, all that happened", she explained briefly, hugging Cage tighter, as if she could let go all those bad feelings for once and for all.

"But you don't feel haunted by those memories, do you?", Cage asked her, interested in that part of her story that he didn't know, and that he hadn't asked her yet.

"No, because he made sure I could feel happy, while he had no one who did that for him", the purplish haired young woman said, sighing. "And now I have you. I don't have to think in my past when I'm with you, because I have a future right ahead", she said sweetly, staring at her boy's eyes.

Cage stared at her, too, feeling like touching Heaven with his hands. Every time with Myona was like that, because he was needed by someone, and he had someone to support him. After so many years, he finally found peace in the arms of that youth, who hadn't had an easy life, also. If they weren't the proof that troubled people can find happyness, then he didn't know which evidence it was needed to show that.

"Don't worry, darling", he tried to cheer her up, cheerfully. "He'll surely find someone who can make him see everything brighter"

Myona stared at him, puzzled. "Are you hearing to yourself?", she asked his boyfriend, slightly annoyed. "Do you remember what happened with Hazel?"

The blue haired youth thought about that, concerned. If Myona could find someone, then it wasn't impossible for Ares. However, Hazel's case was just a hint that maybe the light haired youth was the exception to the rule, and he would never meet a single little bit of happyness. Who could befriend a mass murderer?

He could, Cage thought, and it was true. But he had met Ares before the incident, and so he knew him well; besides, his friend hadn't killed any of his family... but he had, in a way, now that he thought about it. The Bonaparte crew was like Cage's only family. It was quaint, but that had to be the first time Cage repaired on that. However, Ares was still his friend, and he knew what he had been into.

Maybe Myona was right in being afraid. Maybe no one would ever consider Ares a person after they knew what he had done.

Cage leant his head over Myona's shoulder, wishing that he was wrong, and that they would find a way to help their friend.

*

Hazel stared at "her" room, silently. She had a knot in her throat and in her stomach by that moment. Returning was more difficult than what she would have ever thought. Everything was just as when she left, with the exception of the few things that had asked Cynthia to retrieve for her.

For some unknown reason, she felt like returning home. She couldn't find out why, as she already had a physical home, still under repairment. Maybe it was because she was always alone in her department, with no one to wait for and no one who would be waiting for her. Unlike her apartment, in BIS there were people waiting for her. It had to be the first place where she felt "loved", without counting her family home. But it was also the place that harmed her even more than what she had ever thought.

She walked around the small room, staring at everything as if it had been the first time she had been there. Everything was in its place, nothing had been touched...

"Are you alright?", someone asked, motherly.

Hazel turned back and found Mebius, staring at her with a friendly smile. If she had to choose someone to adopt her, she would choose Mebius, without any doubt. But it was just a useless, nonsense thought, at her almost 20 years old.

"I'm fine", Hazel said, drying up a few tears with the sleeve of her jacket, trying to hide that she was crying once more.

"I see", the blonde woman said, staring at her in a way that Hazel stopped doing that, defeated. "What's up?", she asked the light blue-haired girl, concerned.

"It's just that... everything's just as I have left it... as if nothing had ever happened", Hazel said, teary-eyed.

Mebius smiled lightly. "Sometimes, you have to leave some things and act as if nothing has ever happened. You won't forget anyone, but you have to find a way to live on", she said, turning serious.

"But it's not easy", Hazel protested, saddened.

"No one said it would", the blonde haired woman replied, knowing well what she was talking about. "Just remember that you have a place here, and that's also why no one has touched your things. This is your room, at least for the time being"

"Thanks", Hazel whispered, and dropped her paper tissue in the dustbin.

---

Mikenne got into the small cafeteria, almost bumping into Presea when she came in.

"Sorry", the red-haired girl apologized, rubbing her black and blue jacket.

"Don't worry, I'm fine", the green-haired girl replied, in such a bad mood that it was just like an angry dog barking.

Mikenne arched her eyebrows, while she treid to imagine how terrible Presea's mood had to be for making her acting like that. Silently, she walked to the coffee machine, but unfortunately, it was out of order.

"Sorry", Presea apologized, sighing. "It's just that I have such a bad mood... I don't even stand myself today, so please, bear with me", she asked, while she made her high ponytail again, in an attempt to calm herself down, making her appearance tidier.

"Alright, I figured so", the red haired young woman replied, looking for the coffee and some cups in the wardrobe. "Where's Marrek?", she asked, finally making herself some coffee. It was going to be a long day, and she needed to be calm and to keep herself awake, so there was nothing better than coffee in her case.

Presea moaned, annoyed. "He's with some slutty red-haired, inside his dorm", she replied, hatred flowing from her entire self.

"Do you have anything against red-haired ones?", Mikenne asked, her hot cup of coffee hiding her slim smile. She felt like she could feel human once more, as she realized that she could tease people and be teased in exchange. She had thought that she had already lost the ability to joke around, and the ability to make a joke without using sarcasm.

Presea sighed, now feeling slightly sorry for her last statement. "I didn't mean to say that all of you were slutty, you know", she apologized, slowly. "But that red-haired IS a slut, I swear."

Mikenne giggled, covering her mouth with her cup of coffee, because she couldn't imagine what standed for "slut" in Presea's mind, considering her entire appeal and the size of her clothes.

"Maybe I should search for Ruth and try to make her life impossible... she won't like the news, that's for sure", Presea started planning, mischievously. A slim smile of vengeance started to arise in her lips.

Mikenne looked at her puzzled. "What? Haven't you heard?", Mikenne asked, staring at her seriously. "What's more, haven't you seen her? Weren't you in the first aid room?"

"No, I've just come from town", the green-haired nurse replied, now worried. "I had to purchase some things for the first aid room, like bandages and the like"

"Then, you don't know...", Mikenne said rhetorically, while searching a way to say it.  
"What is it?", Presea asked, anxious.

"Ruth died in battle", Mikenne said, briefly. She had nothing else to say. Brief and straight to the point.

Presea stared at her runner companion, still unbelieving her words. "You aren't serious, are you?", she asked, suspiciously.

"You know that I'm not a teaser kind of person, and I wouldn't joke around with something as serious as death itself", the dark-red haired youth said, seriously. "If you don't believe me, then go into her room and take a look for yourself"

Presea, feeling sorry, mumbled, "It's just that... I don't get used to that kind of stuff... She saved her own butt thousands of times before... how could she get killed?", she asked, not waiting for an answer.

Mikenne lowered her head, sadenned. The fact that Ruth was dead didn't change anything about their relationship, but Presea's statement made her realize that it could have happened to her, too. Today was Ruth's turn, and maybe tomorrow it could be hers. The fact that she was a skilled runner meant nothing, because Ruth had been a good runner, even if today she wasn't in top skill. But she had to admit that Marrek's appearance in the battlefield and Ruth's death weren't a mere coincidence...

Suddenly, the door opened, and Ethan came in. He looked too tired, his eyes hardly opened and reddish, by what the two women could see. His hair was all messy and his clothes were untidy, something not so common in him after a battle. He looked much older and defeated than what he had always been.

None of the two young women wanted to talk first, afraid of hurting him, somehow. Mikenne smiled at him slightly, friendly and supportive, telling him that he wasn't alone, that way. Presea lowered her head, searching for the best words to say her condolences. She sucked at that, she knew it well, and she didn't want to bring up the topic, but someone had to do it.

"I'm sorry", Presea said softly, almost like a whisper. Finally, she said it, and found herself relieved.

Ethan moved his head slowly, thanking her silently. "Where's Marrek?", he asked next, his voice shattered, yet angry.

"Why do you want to see him?", Mikenne asked him, concerned.

"That's my problem", Ethan replied coldly, angrily.

"If you need permission from him to take Ruth's body, then don't worry, it's granted", she said, sipping what she had left of coffee.

Ethan stared at her with a thankful expression. If he hadn't his mind busy in another things, he would say that she was trying to come into terms with him, after that nasty chat where they had killed the little friendship that they had.

"Why are you doing this?", he asked her, confused. "Won't I get you into trouble?"

"I don't care if I get in trouble or not", she replied, calmly. "You just don't have to see him, because I know that you'll try to kill him. And even if someone should do it, that's not you. Don't spoil your life by killing someone who's not even worth the bullet", she said, kind of sweetly.

"Yeah, she's right", Presea moaned, still angry. "That asshole isn't worth the trouble"

"Now, how did you know that I wanted to take Ruth somewhere else?", he asked, tired.

"Well... I don't think you would want to bury her in the wasteland... You two wanted so much to leave before the battle, especially her, so... I think she deserves that last wish to be granted", Mikenne explained, thoughtfully.

Ethan stared at her, as surprised as he could be in his state. "I thought you hadn't listen to our chat", he said, confused. "I... yes, Ruth doesn't deserve to lay here, but at home. I'm glad that someone can understand it... only that I have never expected it to come from you".

Mikenne didn't like that statement, but it was true. She was more than an ice maiden rather than a person for the others... or just a battle weapon. She knew how the others felt about her, but hearing those words coming from Ethan's mouth was much of a shock to her. However, she tried to look well, as if she hadn't taken into account his words. "It doesn't matter", she finally said, stoically. "Now, go. She needs you", she said, not knowing what else she could say.

Ethan would have thanked her from the bottom of his heart if he wasn't so numbed from the mixed emotions he was living. Silently, he waved at the two young women and left to the first aid room, where he would start the preparations to take his sister home, at long last.

Mikenne followed him with a glance, concerned. Surprisingly, she found herself with an odd feeling, as if her heart ached at him. Could it happen to her? She was worried about her fellow runner, but... she never thought that she could be that worried to feel something like that... Afraid, she placed a hand on her chest, right over her heart. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be happening. She couldn't be feeling something for someone, could she? Technically, she could, she was another human being in the universe, but she mustn't. If she made him suffer when they had no bound to each other, imagine what she would do to him if they were to have another kind of relationship, or even a single date...

She didn't want to think in what could happen. She didn't want to think in all the catastrophes that would fall over them, and how she would kill him, somehow. It happened all the time for her. First her father, then her mother... and then that fellow runner, some years ago. No, she couldn't get closer to Ethan, because she would distroy him. She didn't want that. But she felt she had to help him, somehow...

"Looks like Marrek is the most popular guy in this base today", Presea stated, distantly, calling Mikenne back to the reality.

Mikenne just nodded and left, eager to close her eyes and find out that everything was nothing but a bad dream, something that the green-haired nurse also wanted, for different reasons. .

-----

Cynthia sat down and leant over the table, her arms becoming a cushion for her troubled head.

Now that everything was "happier" around BIS, she could spend more time thinking about her. Now she regretted that Hazel had returned back, because she wouldn't be thinking about herself but about her depressive cousin.

It had been a tough time for her, these last weeks. Excluding Hazel's situation -which hurted her, as she really liked her cousin and loved her as the elder sister she didn't have- she was also in her own, private Hell, with no exit at sight. Her relation with her parents was thicker and thicker, and it was becoming worse everyday...

The fact that she was in her last months of High School was the key event that triggered that sudden incompatibility with her parents. She had to make a choice for her future, and what she had in mind didn't please them. She didn't give a damn about their opinion, but she didn't want to live in a constant argument. For once and for all, she wanted them to respect her choices. If she was going to fail, she wanted to do it herself. If she just did what her parents did, she would fail for sure, as she would never make a choice by herself.

The fact that she was sharing much time with Hazel didn't help any. Only a wayward child like her could infect their daughter's mind with rebel and nonsense dreams, like becoming a diplomat... Cynthia could imagine her parent's thoughts easily. They needed someone to blame for her choice, and her orphan cousin seemed the best person to place the blame onto.

Her future studies were a problem itself. She had already dumped her dream of becoming a fashion designer, but she was also unsure of becoming a diplomat, even if she looked confident and sure when she argued with her parents. If her parents couldn't take her seriously, who would? Who would trust a diplomat that couldn't even earn her own family's trust and respect? And yet, she wanted to help her planet from the outstanding, powerful Earth people. It was an ironical thing the fact that she felt more Martian than Earthian, after all her parent's efforts of making her feel like a real Terran...

And that damned, incomplete group work was a nightmare for her, also! Apparently, those beings she had as classmates couldn't get it done without her... Of course, if she was an important part in the team... the one that told them to shut up and get moving. She wasn't worry because she would get a bad mark, but she wanted to see it done, so she wouldn't have to see them after school.

She was thinking about all that, that she hadn't noticed that Yukito was in the room, staring at her, puzzled. "What is it?", she asked, confused.

"No, nothing", he replied, naturally. "It's just that it was odd to see you so silent, that's all"

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Keep it in your memory, because I'll began speaking like a parrot at any time", she teased him, trying to smile, but she felt overwhelmed by her situation.

"But are you sure you are fine?", he asked, slightly worried.

"Yes, I think I am", she just said, her eyes with a lost expression.

"You can tell me, if you need to talk", he insisted. After all, he had some free time in his hands, and it was the same for him to stay with Cynthia or watching TV. But considering that there were just some boring reruns that he had already seen millions of times, he decided to stay with the thoughtful student.

"If you want to listen, then feel free", she said, smiling. "It'll be a bit boring, so don't tell me that I hadn't tell you!"

"Alright, I'm already warned", he said, leaning against the chair.

"Well, to make it short, my family is against me, once more. They don't want me to become a diplomat", she said, summing everything up in a couple of sentences.

Yukito blinked several times, surprised. "I thought you wanted to become a fashion designer or something like that", he said, confused.

"Oh, that was my original dream, but I had already buried it long ago", she said, calmly. "Anyway, thanks for remembering it. It has to be the first time that someone actually remembers it and doesn't make fun of it", she said, thankfully. "Anyway, I switched dreams, because I want to be useful for my planet... somehow. Considering that I'll never be able to actually run that thing called Niké, I think it will be a good way to be useful, in some way"

"But why are your parents against it?", he asked. "I don't see anything wrong on that. All the contrary, it would be a respectful position..."

"Yes, but they want me to be a normal Earth citizen, but they forget that I'm not an Earthling. They are"

"And what does Hazel think about it?"

"Hazel just thinks that I'm plainly insane. I guess she even thinks in sueing BAHRAM for my kidnapping, as she thinks that I must have hit my head really hard while I was captive there, going even weirder than what I originally was", the brown haired student said, sighing.

Yukito chuckled at that explanation, but he also could understand how she felt. He was always the odd one out in his family, but unlike Cynthia, he didn't care much about it. Or so he thought, as he could easily recognize the sorrow, anxiety and pressure that the younger girl had over her shoulders. Anyway, he, being a guy, wasn't as sentimental as Cynthia. Nor he was as analytical as her, because he didn't consider every possibility. He just left, annoyed of his family's attempts to make him enter the family business.

"Hey, calm down", he told her, relaxed. "You won't solve anything if you go hard on yourself... and for what you tell, with that kind of parents that you have, you won't do anything the way you want"

Cynthia glared at him, annoyed. "I know that I will never be able to be really free with my parents, but I would like to remain in good relations with them... They can be too heavy, overprotective and straight in their thoughts, but I know that deep down on their soul they love me and want my happyness and security... but if they don't let me be myself I'll never by happy or secure. On the other hand, eventhough I can't stand some of their attitudes and all that, I need them... I don't like the idea of doing whatever I please, and to only know about them when I phone them for Christmas or New Year's Eve", she said, touched. It was only when she said it that she realized that she loved them more than what she thought.

Yukito stared at her again, thinking in his own family and situation. Listening to Cynthia was like listening to his own inner, sentimental self, that was usually hidden for the others and for himself. He also felt something like that: he wanted his freedom and its joys, but he also felt like a void that only his family life could fill. If that wasn't the case, then he couldn't understand why he was starting to get in touch with the family business, that one that he had despised not so many years ago. The only difference between Cynthia and him was that she admitted her situation and didn't want to make her own will at all costs.

"I don't know what to tell you", he said, talking seriously. "I, too, have gone through a similar situation..."

"Did you?", Cynthia interrupted him, excited. "I thought that the HBC thng was a joke for a naive girl like me"

Yukito rose an eyebrow. "It's all for real", he said, annoyed. "Do I look like a liar or what?"

Cynthia blushed, embarrassed. "Sorry, I just thought it had to be imposible... that's something really important... Anyway, what did you do in your situation?", she asked quickly, changing topics to let behind her little mistake.

"Basically, I left and did my own will", he said, in rememberance. "I don't regret it, but I have to admit that some times I felt like you are doing now, even if I didn't want to admit it ever".

Cynthia looked at him surprised. "Really?", she asked him, her eyes wide opened with surprise and joy, because, at last, she had found someone that could understand how she was feeling. "And what did you do?", she asked, curiously.

Yukito smiled lightly. "Well, that's a long story", he said, chuckling.

"Then, start talking", the brown haired student hurried him, smiling. "Remember that you have to cheer me up", she reminded him, giggling.

"It all began a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...", Yukito began saying, already laughing.

Cynthia burst into laughter, catching the joke, and then she stayed silent, waiting for her fellow comrade to tell her the story of some certain Jedi called Yukito, in his daily activities to overcome Darth Father's commands...

----

"Mikenne!", Marrek shouted imperatively. As the dark red-haired young woman was taking too much time for him, he repeated the call twice, three times, until he heard footsteps coming.

"What's wrong??", the young woman asked from the corridor, irritated. Right when she got into his office, she understood why he was in a hurry.

Right inside the office, she found Marrek smiling proudly, with two people at his side, who were also smiling, expectantly.

Mikenne knew both of them well; too well, in fact. One was a middle-aged man, closest to his mid-fifties rather to the late-forties he claimed to be, for some reason. His once black hair was much lighter, product of the grey hairs that came with his age. He was slightly fat, due to the good living that he was enjoying in Mars, and that was granted by who knew how many innocent and not so innocent souls, herself included. He had a cool expression, but there was something dark on it, that clouded his apparently calm and friendly appearance.

The other newcomer was a red-haired young woman, the youngest person in the room, who wasn't even twenty, yet, but was one of the most influential and feared people in BAHRAM nowadays. Her intimidating glance and yellow eyes could make anyone surrender, and if that wasn't enough, her charms would do it.

From all the people that were still in BAHRAM, these two were the ones that Mikenne wanted the least to see again.

"Amante", Mikenne whispered, breathless. "And Doctor Harris", she added, still confused.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Mikenne?", the middle-aged man greeted her, chuckling friendly.

"Why do you have that face?", Amante teased her. "You look like you have seen a ghost or something like that. Is it that we aren't welcome here?", she asked, intentionally.

"It's not that", Mikenne said quickly, before Marrek could say anything. "It's just that I didn't know you two were coming", she said, glaring at Marrek for keeping that data all for himself.

"That's because we didn't plan it", Amante explained, smiling. "We knew that things were getting thicker here, so we just decided to drop by here and try to make some order, all out of the blue"

"Besides, the entire confrontation with BIS could be useful for testing some new weapons and such things", Doctor Harris added, smiling mischeviously.

"You bet", Marrek said, chuckling at the scientist's suggestion. "Where's Ethan?", he asked Mikenne, still imperatively. It looked like he was desperate to show Amante and that doctor that he was still capable of commanding the base, even if things hadn't gone like expected.

"He asked me permission to take his sister's body and bury it at their home. I authorized him", Mikenne explained, not looking at him.

Marrek let go a forced laugh. "Well, you would be the one in charge in the battlefield, but I'm the boss here! After all the scandal you made at the battlefield, I could do the same with you right now"

Mikenne rolled her eyes. "And what's the matter? Are you going to tell me that you were worried about him, after what you had done?", she asked him, angrily.

Marrek stared at her confused. "What do you mean by that? I hadn't done anything", he said, innocently. "Besides, you had never liked Ruth, and she never liked you, so don't start defending her as if you had been her closest, best friend"

Mikenne's fists tightened, enraged. How could that bastard act as if nothing had happened?

"Stop, stop", Amante ordered. "Alright, that guy's not here? Fine, he'll return later", she said, slightly annoyed by their subordinates childish attitude. "Anyway, don't you think that the UNSF showing up was a bit... suspicious?", she asked, more interested.

"Do you mean that we have a spy within the base?", Marrek asked, catching Amante's hint at once.

"Good boy. Go on like this and I'll give you a cookie", she said, taking advantage of the opportunity to tease him.

Coming from Amante, Marrek just smiled.

Mikenne stayed silent for a couple of seconds, thoughtfully. "I don't think so. It doesn't make sense. Why would the UNSF attack right now, if no one new has joined us?"

"You are right about that. You had been the last one to come here, to Hellespontos, but you are out of the matter, honey", Marrek said, coming nearer Mikenne, while he played with some of her dark red hair. "You would never betray us... what's more, you just can't", he whispered her at her ear.

Mikenne's fists tightened again, but this time she pushed him backwards angrily, instead of staying quiet.

"Something's not right here", Dr. Eugene Harris repared, rubbing his chin.

"I'm not a robot!", Mikenne protested, before he could say anything else. "I have feelings, even if it doesn't look so. And this guy is just so... heartless and selfish. He killed a person, and he just thinks how he can do to get some girl in his bed. I shouldn't be the odd one out here", she said, annoyed.

Amante rolled her eyes, while the scientist walked to her, silently. "Evidently, that gal's death touched you", he said, leaning a hand over Mikenne's shoulder. "Listen to me: there's no evidence that he had killed her. Anyway, will you tell us that you always keep mourning each time you defeat an enemy unit? Do you always think in those you kill?"

Mikenne looked down, defeated. It was always like that, and she never learnt to shut up. How many times had she gone thorugh the same situation? And yet... she always did the same question. And time over time, she knew that she didn't leave the rebel force because she didn't know other way of life.

"Oh, well, enough of this chit-chat, which isn't leading us anywhere", Amante said, yawning. "I still think there is -or was- a spy among you... well, us. Why did the UNSF take that long to attack? I don't know, but they did today. Isn't it too suspicious?", she asked, with a forced enthusiast, as she was already convinced that there was a spy among them.

"Uhh... scary", Doctor Eugene Harris mocked them, with his best poker face. Despite the fact he was suppossed to be the most mature one of all those over there, he enjoyed teasing people when the situation wasn't the most suitable.

Mikenne raised an eyebrow, annoyed. "Some things never change, do they?", she asked rhethorically, sighing. "Anyway, I don't believe in this supposition. We've been fighting BIS a long time ago. We've also kidnapped some scientists, and I suppose that someone must have reported their disappearance to the police or any other force. I think that they have plenty of reasons to attack now. Maybe they were waiting for us to do something riskier, or maybe they spent more time armoring themselves before coming here. There are a lot of reasons, and none of them are related to spies and conspirances"

"It may be valid", Amante said, but she wasn't convinced.

"Besides, if there would be a spy here, they would have already attacked the base, just as they did in the other counties", Mikenne added, irritated.

It was obvious that she was mad at that spy theory, and she did nothing to hide it. The only ones left to blame where the Cromwell siblings. She wasn't going to blame a dead person for that spy work, so the only one left was Ethan... but she couldn't imagine him in such situation. Or was it that she didn't want him to be in that situation?

"Alright, say what you want, but it's a possibility", Amante stopped her, bored of the topic. "Well, when that Ethan guy returns, send him to me, ok?", she said, already turning back, ready to leave.

"What will you do with him?", Marrek asked, asking the same question that Mikenne wanted to ask but that she had forbidden herself to ask. However, Marrek's intentions were different, as he was obviously jealous, all of a sudden.

Amante noticed this, and giggled naughtily. "I just want to talk to him... maybe I could try to know him better. He's a handsome guy, after all... Wouldn't it be a nice idea?", she asked, entertained. "Or maybe I could ask him if he knows about this issue, or what's his opinion about it", she added, coldly. "Whatever, that's my business. Are you coming, Marrek?", she asked, completely naturally this time.

She didn't have to listen to him or to stare at him to know that the green-haired base leader was already walking to her. Quickly, the two of them left the room, leaving Mikenne and Doctor Harris alone.

Doctor Harris stared at Mikenne silently for quite some time, taking the risk of being rude.

"What's wrong?", Mikenne asked him, irritated at his continuous stare.

"I'm analyzing you", he just said, while he kept on looking at her. "I notice some change in your behaviour, girl... Are you alright?", he asked, walking closer to her.

"That's not your problem!", she said, as she walked off the room, angrily.

Doctor Harris stared at her as she left, and sighed. "You are wrong, darling. Every one of my sub... patients concerns me", he said, while lightening up a cigarette before leaving the room.

-------

Ares was at the hangar, sitting in an old, wooden chair, while he tried to repair an old laptop that Robin begged him to take a look at. Apparently, that obsolete laptop was really worthwhile for her, as she insisted him greatly. The entire table was a mess of chips, screws and little pieces, but he felt "like home" in that mess.

"Hi, there!", a new voice greeted at him.

Ares turned back slowly, finding Arantxa behind him, leaning over the wall.

"Hi", he greeted her back, confused.

She walked to where he was and sitted down, facing him. "So you are Ares, aren't you?", she asked, curiously.

He sighed, tired. "Yeah, that's me", he just replied, getting ready for the upcoming preaching. He couldn't find another reason for her to come and talk to him.

She spent a few moments staring at the silent, tired youth. After that brief analysis, she said, "Well, at least you aren't what I had in mind"

Ares arched an eyebrow, puzzled. "Sorry? What does that mean? Is it good or not?"

Arantxa laughed, realizing that she hadn't been clear at all. "I'm sorry, the words just slipped by. It tends to happen to me usually, truth to be told", she apologized, blushing. No, relax, it's a good thing", she said, still laughing.

Ares let go a deep breath, relaxed. "Then, I'm glad that someone that I don't know has a slightly 'good' concept of me", he said, sarcastically.

"I don't know you, but you don't look that menacingly and harmfull... at least, those words define well the image I had thought of you", she started explaining him, cordially. "After those long chats with Hazel, I thought that you had to be a tall, huge, sort of violent guy, well, I don't know, like a kingpin or something like that. Don't think that Hazel said all those things, but with outcome of the actions, I thought that only a guy with that physical appearance, and with a hatred of the size of Jupiter, could be the only person that could do that. But then, after thinking a bit -yes, from time to time I use my brain- I said to myself, "Wait a minute! I must have the wrong image on my head! I can't see shy Hazel paired with a Mafia-like, backstreet fighter and mass murderer! They just don't match!" But then, for some reason or the other, I never took the time to think in another image for you, so you ended up being the "angry macho" guy in my head", she said, laughing even more.

Ares would have laughed with all his strentgh, if she wasn't talking about him. Still, the entire situation was too funny to stay silent and serious, so he ended up curling his lips a little, as some sort of smile. "As you can see, I'm the entire opposite", he said, playing with an iron piece from the old laptop that he was supposed to repair.

"And I'm glad of that, yet I don't know why", the black haired woman replied, playing with her fringe. Soon, she got bored of twisting her black hair, so she decided to stare at what Ares was doing.

Ares felt a bit uncomfortable having a pair of eyes fixed in his actions, so he started talking, just to distract the new girl from having her staring at what he was doing. "So, you've already heard much about me from Hazel?"

Arantxa's eyes shone, entertained by the youngest boy shy, hidden interest.

Ares drop what he was doing and stared at her, puzzled. "What's so funny?", he asked, slightly irritated.

"Nothing", the newcomer said, smiling. "It's just that I find funny the way you have to ask things. If you just wanted to ask me what Hazel said about you, you only had to say it directly"

Now Ares was the one who smiled. "I thought I was too straight with that question. Anyway, now that you mention it, I'll tell you: I just asked that so you would stop staring at my work"

Arantxa's smile fall down, leaving her confused. "Oh, I see", she said, awkwardly. Needless to say, she looked in another direction, as if the old laptop hurted her eyes by just watching in that direction. But her surprise and confussion lasted too little, as she turned back to him with a broader smile. "I got it!", she said, triumphally. "You are still hiding your interest, so that's why you ask me not to stare at your work"

Ares sighed, resigned. The new girl wouldn't give up that easily, apparently. "Alright, think whatever you want", he said, picking up the screwdriver and diving himself into his work once again, trying to forget that a complete stranger, and friend of Hazel, was examining at him as if he was an alien.

"Do I really bother you by just being here?", Arantxa asked, cheerfully.

"Why do you ask?", he said, while he thought that answering "yes" would be too rude.

"Because you look too nervous, and mainly because you picked the laptop's digital pen as a screwdriver", she said, laughing.

Ares stared at his hand, astonished. The new one was right. In his right hand, where he could have sworn that he had a green screwdriver, he had a thin digital pencil. He left it at the table and rubbed his eyes, tired. "I just don't know what's happening to me. In fact, I don't know what's happening anymore", he said, as a slight apology for his dumbness, but he didn't have to apologize to anyone.

Arantxa giggled. "Don't worry. Anyway, I don't think I'm the source of your nervousness, but some light blue haired chick", she said, now more serious than before, but always smiling.

Ares leant back, annoyed with himself. "It's not just for her. It's for everything. I just don't know what I should do. I can't have a normal life, because I'm always thinking back in the past. And when I can have it, my past comes back and spoils everything, then it haunts me. I just don't want to think in the future, because I can't see anything bright there. My health isn't strong, and I'm afraid that my past will always plague me. Everyone expects me to kill someone, even if they don't say it. I... I just can't stand it anymore", he said, his feeling bursting out angrily from within. He was really surprised with himself, for speaking those things with Arantxa, a complete stranger. But that stranger also had something that made him talk. It had to be that she looked calm and cheerful, or that she was really insistent. One of those two aspects or her personality were to blame, that's for sure.

Arantxa looked at him with sympathy and pity. She didn't know much of his life, and yet he had to talk about it with her. She felt sorry for him. She even could understand him a little, but she didn't know how to help him...

"Don't worry, everything will be fine...", she finally said, sweetly. It was the first sympathetic phrase that came to her mind.

"She really hates me, doesn't she?", he asked her, already feeling the answer.

Arantxa shrugged, resigned. "What can I tell you? She feels like betrayed by you. She almost found a friend on you, and then she finds out that you were the one that screwed up her life. Try to put yourself in her place: what if she was the one that killed your parents in the name of a silly revenge that everyone knows that won't change anything?"

Ares sighed once more, tired of everything. "I know, I know. But what's done is done. I'm not proud at all of what I have done, but... at that moment, I didn't think in the ones in the ship, but in the ship and its content itself. I was kind of desperate I guess... I don't know. I don't know if there's a way to mend what I have done. I don't think there's one."

"I know, it's a difficult situation the one you two are living", the black haired girl said, thoughtfully. "But don't worry... give her time. I can't promise you that she will love you madly, but I think she will give in... sometime. She's got a hard shell, but she's a nifty cotton within", she said, smiling.

"Do you really think that? Do you know her that much?"

"Not really, but I think she will find a way to go on. She has to.", Arantxa admitted. "Some say that time can do everything, and that no pain lasts for a hundred years, so... I don't think she's the exception. She will have to learn to live with it, but most importantly, she will have to overcome it in order to finally live"

Ares stared at his tools, thoughtfully. He could understand Hazel too well, as he had been trapped in the past for a long time. But he felt that he was damned to be like that. He just needed to take a look at his current life to realize that things wouldn't change for him.

"And you too", Arantxa said, her head down, looking for his eyes. "You are no exception. You'll have to live with your past and go on. And if the past returns, you'll have to make yourself stronger and go on, as if nothing had happened. And if you can't be friends with Hazel, then let her go. She may not be the one. Someone else may be, or maybe not. But don't cling to her as if she was the only thing in the entire world. And if it hurts you to see it like this, in case she can't overcome it, then try to evade her, as you'll hurt her more, and you'll hurt yourself, because there's nothing you can do to her, nor anything you can do to mend the past", she said, her voice showing an authority that her aspect hid.

Ares raised his head and stared at her, confused. "All that things that you say are true, but... how do you know all that? And there's one thing I have to tell you: I just wanted to be some sort of friend to Hazel, because she looked so much like me in the past... I just tried to help her"

The black-haired girl smiled lightly. "Hazel also left in clear that she just wanted a friend. A quaint coincidence, don't you think? ", she said, giggling. "Don't worry, everything will be fine", Arantxa insisterd, friendly.

Ares smiled, reconforted. It had to be that... Things couldn't go even more wrong.

-----

Ethan slammed his fist on the table. "You can't tell me that we can't do anything about it!!", he yelled, furiously.

Colonel Boer stared at him, surprised first, then with pity. "Look, Ethan, I'd really want to be able to help you in this situation, I'd really want to, but I'm just a mere puppet in this case. The orders come from above. What's more, try to think it abstractly: I can't attack every single Martian ship in the name of a fallen Earth civilian. If that were the case, I'd need the entire army for this task, just to avenge those innocent people!"

Ethan turned back, walked a few steps nervously, and return to the desk. "I know that!", he roared, furiously. "But Ruth was an Earth soldier! Isn't that enough to attack back?"

"But she left the military when she joined BAHRAM, have you forgotten that?", the medium-aged man asked him, standing up and facing Ethan, loosing the little patience he had left. "She was a deserter, and the superior's wouldn't even hesitate in calling her a traitor. Do you think they would waste their time and money in her name?"

"Military forces have wasted more money and lives in the name of a millions of unbeliable, fucking excuses through the years, so one more wouldn't hurt", Ethan replied coldly, just a little doze of all his hatred within came out with his words. "It's a noble cause! They could even be considered heroes by the media", he added, sarcastically.

"And then your sister would pass over as a martyr, uh?", Colonel Boer asked him, using even more sarcasm than his subordinate spy. "Look, Ethan, I'm really sorry for your sister. My most sincere condolences. But I can't help you in this. You have to understand that Ruth didn't have any bound with us since she left. We already have many different reasons to get into Mars, so no one will move a finger for a deserter"

"I could give you the latest data that I got", the light brown haired young man said, trying to remain strong and in one piece, but he was already crumbling within. "That is... if you help me"

Boer stared at him, arching an eyebrow and looking at him with pity and amazement. "Blackmail won't work with us, Mr Cromwell, you should know it well. If you don't give us the latest data, don't worry. We'll get it somehow. And if we don't find a way to get it, then we already have enough to make enough mess in Mars for quite some time", he said, coldly and menacingly.

Ethan stared at the floor, defeated. There was no way out. The Earth generals wouldn't help him, they wouldn't recognize Ruth as a heroine nor anything close. She was nothing but a traitor, a deserter. No one was going to help him to avenge her death, no one cared about his situation. He had just gave them another reason to attack BAHRAM, and they just wanted to stick with their plans, ignoring him and his pain...

"Ethan, now give us the data", the Colonel ordered, looking at the content of several folders. "Tell us something, at least. I don't know, what happened to the scientists, for example? Who were them?", he went on, naturally. "Maybe I can talk with the bosses and we can do something about your sister's situation", he offered, intentionally. Personally, he hated that blackmailing situation, but his former spy gave him no other way out but that technique.

No one cared about his situation, no one paid attention to his pain... That wasn't the military he had known... or at least, the one he thought that he had known.

Slowly, he saw all his beliefs and trusted concepts falling down, crumbling in front of his eyes. No one would help him at all, not even as a reward for his spying activities, continuing the work that his twin had started when she left with Marrek, and that she abandoned when she fall in love with him. But did she fall in love with him, or did she realize earlier than him the way things were, and decided to escape from all that? Now he would never know...

No one cared if he was deeply in pain or not. His sister was nothing but a number in a certain column, just a casualty, as thousands, millions of people... and no one thought in them, in those fallen civilians and soldiers, friends or foes, females and males... No one cared, not even him, until Ruth died... Suddenly, he felt like he was awakening from a long, numbed state. He realized he was nothing but a tool, something that could be used when necesary and then left behind. War wouldn't end anytime soon; all the contrary, it would go on indefinetely...

He just wanted to escape, forget everything that had happened and that he had done. He regretted having joined the armed forces, he regretted everything he had done... but he had done it because he believed in something that he had just lost... He believed that Earth cared about its people, and that the UNSF took care of its soldiers... But it wasn't like that. He couldn't go on serving a force where a Colonel blackmailed its subordinates, for example. Or a force where no one would move a finger unless some echonomical interest was in danger, for example... If that wasn't the case, why did they take too long to act? This was the end...

"Well, will you give us the data or not?", Boer asked, insistent.

"Fuck off!", Ethan just said, leaving the room and slamming the door as he left.

Philip Nor sighed, staring at the slammed shut door. "There it goes our spy", he said, monotonously. "I wonder how we'll manage from now on"

Colonel Boer looked at him, surprised that the younges officer wasn't even touched by Ethan's situation, but didn't say anything about it. He knew he was one of the few ones that tried to think in his subordinates as people and not as tools. It was sad to face it, but he had no other way out but to accept the reality. "We have enough information for the time being, don't worry about it", he finally said, now staring at the door, too.

"Do you think he'll sell the information to the media?", the younger officer asked.

Boer took some seconds to reply. "I don't think so. He's in a difficult situation, and also shattered. I don't think he'll do something like that. He still feels the code... he can't betray what he had believed until now so easily".

"If you say so", Philip Nor said, trusting in his superior's words. "Should I give the order to track his telephone and his e-mail account? Just in case he looses his codes and his honor and wants to talk about his experiences here"

Boer closed his eyes, amazed at his subordinate's ideas. He knew that that boy would make a magnificent career. "Don't worry", he said, tired. "Someone else must have asked that before. Rest easy. You are on every single thing"

Philip Nor nodded. "Thanks. Then, I'll make sure everything's under control". With that, he turned back and left, leaving a thoughtful Colonel Boer behind.

--------

Cynthia walked slowly through the empty, dangerous looking suburb streets. She was walking home slowly from the Saoshyant, thinking about all the things that had happen to her in the past few months. Somehow, she felt even more lonely than what she was before. Sure, she had always felt lonely between her classmates, as she thought different from them, but now she felt even more lonely, because she couldn't even tolerate their lack of responsibility towards life and society in general. She couldn't stand Aretha's "social worries" (ahem, gossips) anymore, and the only sight of Matt made her feel ill, as she considered 'repugnant' his constant lust for any female thing he saw. She couldn't even forgive Elian or Meredy, for their comfortable nature, as they just accepted things the way they were, and wouldn't raise a single finger to change them.

But she wasn't the most suitable person to talk, and she knew it. While she could feel more mature at school, she was like a little child at BIS, and that was another reason why she felt so lonely. She felt she didn't belong to any of those two places. She was more trouble than what she was worth in BIS, because she couldn't be a good runner. She tried it harder and harder, and that damned Goddess of Victory hardly ever obeyed her commands. On the other hand, she had no one to trust out there, and that was starting to get harmful. Having so many things to say, but no one to listen to them was damn too painful and difficult.

She went on walking, defeated. No one took her seriously. Her parents were sort of scandalized that she had choosen to study Diplomacy, she would die pennyless. Couldn't she just study Management? Hazel thought that she was just kidding. And her classmates... they just went on talking about more important things. One of her teachers -the same one that was at class the day that her school was attacked- bursted into laughter when she heard that.

Still, Cynthia felt she just had to go on with her plans, and show everyone that she was capable of being serious and mature. She wouldn't despise fashion, but she would study Diplomacy. She felt she needed to do something to help her planet. Since the Niké wouldn't obbey her, she would have to do it personally.

She was so absorted in her thoughts, that a quick whistle paralized her. Suddenly, she felt terrified. She was all alone, in a deserted, dangerous street...

A second whistle could be heard. Slowly, Cynthia started to turn back, more and more terrified. A figure started walking to her, from the shadows. Slowly, another figure moved towards the other, but then walked back, after the first figure said something that Cynthia couldn't heard.

Cynthia swallowed, nervously. She wanted to run away, but her legs didn't move. That was enough for her: first, her frame disobeys her, now her legs... she was damned. She was about to get robbed, surely. Or maybe kidnapped... again. While it didn't go any further than that... The shadow looked too imponent... and she couldn't move...

The figure kept on walking towards her. Cynthia closed her eyes, afraid. Her end was near...

"Hi, Cynthia", Elian's voice greeted her, both funnily and seriously.

Cynthia opened up her eyes widely, astonished by the surprise. It couldn't be Elian, there was no way it could be him... He had to be doing that group school work, with the others. Could it be that she was dead, and Elian died before in the afternoon, and they were meeting in Heaven, or eternity?

"Hey, are you alright? I know I'm ugly, but you don't have to stare at me like that", the boy teased her, laughing.

He wasn't dead, nor Cynthia was.

"Idiot!", she yelled, still afraid, while she punched him in his right arm. "You scared me greatly! I was just walking alone, in this dangerous area, and you just whistle at me!! What a sense of humour that you have!"

"I didn't mean to scare you", he said, trying to stop her. "Well, maybe a little... but hey... please, stop! It hurts!", he complained, still laughing, as he rubbed his right arm.

"Now you care about that, uh?", Cynthia exclaimed, still angry at him. "You could have killed me with that 'joke'!"

"Hey, stop!", her classmate pleaded, rubbing his attacked arm. "Meredy, come and help me, please!"

The light green-haired girl came out from the dark, giggling. "I told you she wouldn't like it", she said, still giggling, as she catched one of Cynthia's arms.

Cynthia looked at her shy companion with her eyes wide-opened. "Meredy? What are you doing here?", she asked her, almost speechless. She couldn't imagine that girl without one or two books in her arms.

"I came with him, don't worry", she explained, rubbing Elian's arm.

"But... what are you doing here, in such an abandoned area?", she asked them, astonished. She could have never imagined them outside their neat, comfortable homes.

"I don't know why you complain, if you had already walked this way earlier. And it's not the first time", he said, staring seriously at her.

Cynthia looked at him with her eyes even wider than before. If the series of surprises continued, she would surely loose her eyes in the street... "What... Have you been following me?", she asked, softly.

"Aha", the boy replied. "We noticed that you weren't your usual self, and so we decided to follow you. We are doing this since... I don't know, since some weeks ago"

"You can call yourself happy that it wasn't Aretha who decided to follow you", Meredy said, smiling.

"I know", Cynthia said, still astonished. "She would be blackmailing me right now... if she could resist the temptation of talking, that is. Still, I can't understand what are you doing here... if there were two people I thought that would never do something like this, it was both of you"

Elian laughed. "Sometimes, life gives you some surprises"

Meredy giggled at that comment. "He's right... Still, you have to explain what do you do here. We haven't been chasing you for nothing, you know"

"Don't worry, we won't say anything to anyone", Elian told her, in a way that Cynthia felt that he could be trusted.

"I promise", Meredy said, as she mentally recalled that time when Cynthia's mother called at her house and she ended up talking too much. "This time I'll keep my big mouth shut".

Cynthia stared at them hesitantly. She still didn't know if she could trust them. Elian has always been nothing but a classmate, with whom she didn't have much relation until this goup work. Meredy, on the other hand, was the closest thing she had as a best-friend. Still, she wasn't what Cynthia expected for a friend. And yet... they cared for her. If that wasn't the case, they wouldn't have wasted their time following her, instead of doing more interesting, useful things.

Under the sunset light, Cynthia noticed that they have changed. They weren't the same people she knew from school. They looked much mature, standing in front of her seriously, yet patient, still wearing their High School uniforms. Maybe she didn't notice it in Elian, but she knew that Meredy wasn't the same shy girl she used to know. A hint of rebellion -or was it life, according to Cynthia's standards?- could be found in the quiet light green-haired girl. She felt she just had to give her a new chance, after Meredy's "betrayal" with her mother.

Now she was a little worried. Could it be that she had also changed much, just as she noticed the change in her companions? It had to be so, if they had to chase her to know what she was into. Did she change for good or not? Only time, or those two people in front of her, could tell...

The brown haired girl sighed, tired. She had to trust them. They were worth the trust. If she couldn't trust in them, then she couldn't trust in anyone. Finally, she could talk about her real dreams, and the loneliness she felt.

"Alright", she said. "I'll tell you what's going on. But can we talk somewhere else, closer to our homes? It gives me the creeps this area...", she asked, shyly.

Elian laughed, as he grabbed the two girls by one arm. "Don't worry. I'm here to take care of you two, nothing will happen to you"

Meredy laughed at him. "Then, I'm already afraid. Don't you remember the other day? Some guys started following us, and you started walking much quicker than me! You were very scared!", she said, teasing him.

Cynthia looked at the usually shy Meredy amazed. She was right: they had changed. Nothing was the same, but maybe in Meredy's particular case, it was a good thing.

Elian moaned. "You don't have to say those things out loud with a newcomer", he nagged Meredy, smiling.

Cynthia smiled, feeling better now. She felt she was about to share her secret with worthy people. Now, she wanted to be included in that friendship that Elian and Meredy now had, perhaps because of her.

They walked quickly, eager to leave that part of the city, and eager to find some nifty bar or cafeteria where Cynthia could try to explain to them their story.

***

Notes

I sort of hate myself, writing-wise. I take years to write the chapters, and then I take years to upload them. This one, for example, should have been posted like six months ago, at least (well... by the time I have planned to upload this one... which is more than six months ago! This chapter have been sleeping in my hard drive for almost a year!). Chapter 21 is also ready, but as I didn't write much of the other chapters, I won't upload it till the others are finished or so. Then, I make the chapters too damn long, and yet I can't find a way to make them shorter. On this one, I had to spend quite some time with Arnatxa's conversations because she's new. And I had to give Cynthia some more "fic time", as she's suffering, despite her always cheerful bahavior. But if it's not for this, it's for another reason, I know.  
Whatever, I did revise chapters 9 to 14, finally! Why those? Because they were the ones that looked like one single, looooong paragraph. They are still bad, but well... now I guess that they are a bit more readable. See you!


	21. Hollow Pasts, troubled presents

Chapter 21: "Hollow Pasts, troubled presents, shattered futures"

The last times in BIS had been odd for everyone, especially for Hazel. She was feeling really odd and awkward living with the one that had caused her too much grief, as well with the ones that had sort of hidden the one that had ruined her life. However, she couldn't return to her flat, as the government said that the repairs would take more time than what they had first said, given the fact that the rebel groups were making too much fuss, and that brought some problems with Earth and the UNSF, who was threatening to make its presence in the region even stronger.

Arantxa came from time to time, trying to make herself comfortable in the rebel force, but she found the BIS folks quite cold towards her. Cynthia, on the other hand, was dealing with her own problems, but she was now quite relieved, after finding out htat she could trust on Meredy and Elian. So far, she hadn't had any bad surprises concerning their loyalty and ability to keep promises, and was starting to like her two classmates more than what she had ever thought she could.

Hazel was thinking about her entire situation, once again, while Razma and Semyl were talking to her about random things to make her forget everything for a while, at least, when she just stood up from her chair and walked to the telephone. Quickly, she dialed her answering machine service's number, eager to know if there were any news that would make her day. The two red-haired youths kept on talking, quite surprised of her attitude.

And she had a message, after all. And it seemed to make her day, also.

"Could you talk softer, please?", Hazel asked, in haste. "I'm trying to listen to a message from my answering machine", she explained, slightly annoyed.

"Alright, sis", Ramza said, chuckling.

Hazel rolled her eyes at his attempt to make her feel at home, but she was still feeling like an outcast on BIS. She still couldn't understand how she accepted to stay there.

"Hi, Hazel!", a male voice greeted her from the telephone tube, as she listened to the recorded messagge. A smile grew up in her lips as soon as she recognized the voice. "It's me, Alen. I'm staying a few days here, on Hellespontos, and I wanted to know if..."

"Quickly, give me a piece of paper and a pen, please!", she begged in a hurry, shaking her hands nervously.

"What is it?", Semyl asked her, handing her over the things she had requested a moment ago.

"Nothing", Hazel replied, as she noted down a number and an address. "Just a message from an old friend", she commented, before leaving the main room. In a matter of seconds, she came into the main room again, carrying her bag and a denim jacket. "If someone looks for me, tell him or her that I'm not here, and that I don't know how much I'll be out", she told them, waving at them as she walked throught the door, putting her denim jacket on.

"What's going on?", Myona asked, who had almost bumped into Hazel when she wanted to get into the main room. "She seems to be in a hurry"

"I don't know, but her eyes were shinning, strangely enough", Semyl replied, puzzled. She and Razma had seen her complete change of attitude astonished, almost without blinking. "She said something about an old friend, or something like that"

"Yup, she didn't even know when she was coming back", Ramza added, filling in the missing data.

"I see", Myona said, blinking. She barely understood anything of what they had told her, but she decided it would be better to stay where she was, rather than chasing Hazel to see what was going on. She didn't want the light-blue haired girl to feel paranoid for nothing.

"Well... why don't we do something else, rather than being here, wasting our time?", Razma asked, shrugging.

"Sounds good to me, even if the idiot proposes it", Semyl said, teasing her red-haired companion.

"Why, you...", he glared at her, slightly annoyed.

"I agree with you", Myona said. "Let's see what we can do around here", she proposed.

* * *

Hazel put her hands in her jean jacket's pockets, trying to get warmer in that windy Martian afternoon. The Park was partly desserted, especially near the monument. Maybe because it was an imponent monolith, or maybe because no one wanted to remember the past, that area was hardly ever visited. It was kind of a sarcastic miracle to her how it managed to stay clean, as no one could ever be seen around it.

Far from it, she could see kids playing, under thier parents' constant, yet loose look. There were also people taking some gym classes, and a couple running on their own, hooked to their mobile music players.

No hints of Alen, though.

The light blue-haired girl was starting to get more and more anxious. She was eager to see a friendly face; she needed some good time among so many dissasters that kept on happenning to her. However, waiting wasn't made for her, after all, and patience was one of the things that she was lacking. Without counting forgiveness, mercy, and sociability, among some others.

She was about to start thinking about how miserable she was, when she saw her friend coming, at last.

Walking slowly along the tree-less area of the park, a tall, well-built young man appeared, smiling friendly at Hazel, making her smile, too. He had blonde, short hair, although it was slightly longer than the last time she saw him, almost a year ago. He was too musculous to her, but his training as a gymnast was to blame.

"Thanks for coming", Hazel greeted the newcomer, gratefully.

"Don't even mention it", the blonde man replied, smiling. "I thought you had moved somewhere else, as you didn't reply to my calls", he added, hugging her.

Hazel replied to that hug by hugging him harder, as a cast-away would do with a piece of wood in the middle of the sea. Without realizing it, small tears started falling from her eyes, and slid through her companion's strong arms.

"Don't worry, Haz, everything will be alright", he comforted her, patting her head softly. "You are a survivor, aren't you? Then, keep on doing what you and me know best: go on surviving", he told her, seriously. He, too, was trying to remain strong and cool about the past, but it was difficult to move on.

Hazel nodded, but didn't make a move to stop hugging him; all the contrary.

"Oh, come on, girl", he teased her, trying to sound cheerful among his sadness. "It can't be that wrong, can it?"

"I think it can", she whispered, depressed.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?", Alen asked her, concerned. That young girl was the only good thing that had happened to him at the time of the accident, and the only idea of seeing her suffering made him suffer as well. Seeing Hazel at this state wasn't something that made him feel at ease. "We can go for a cup of coffee and then we can return here", he offered her, politely. "After all, neither the monument nor our deceased beloved ones will move from where they are", he added, sarcastically. But there was a hint of hatred and pain in that sarcasm.

Hazel nodded. Even if the dead ones won't rise from their tomb, she would feel better sharing her "secret" with Alen at some other place.

* * *

"Hi, there!", Arantxa shouted, grabing the young student from the shoulders, out of the blue.

"Hi", Cynthia grumbled, busy with some school papers and folders. "If you are looking for Hazel, you are out of luck. She ain't here", she added, while she started looking for something in her mess of papers, rather desperately.

"What are you doing?", she asked her, curiously. Arantxa had just come into the Saoshyant from the city, and the first person she found was Cynthia... so it was a good excuse to start making socials with the girl.

"Some homework I have pending", the young girl replied, harshly. Finally, she picked that so desired piece of paper from the mess of photocopies she had over the table.

Arantxa giggled, funnily.

Cynthia sighed and stared at her, annoyed. "What's wrong?", she asked the black-haired young woman, impatiently.

"Nothing, nothing at all", Arantxa replied, giggling. "I just hadn't thought you were such a hard-working student"

The brown-haired student rolled her eyes, even more annoyed. "I do have a life, before you ask about it", she replied, angrily. "I'm not the bookworm type... nor the total slacker"

"Oh, don't worry about it, I already know that", the black-haired girl said, now seriously, as she understood that she had hurt Cynthia's feelings. "If your life just revolved around books and school, you wouldn't be here at all"

Cynthia nodded, silently, as she thought about her schoolmate Meredy. Maybe that rule wasn't entirely true. Meredy had resigned a lot of her studying time to find out, alongside Elian, what she was doing, and what had changed her. Even if she was a shy, silent bookworm, she cared for others so much that made her resign some of her precious time. For the first time, Cynthia realized that she was a good friend, even if she had screwed it up that day when she called to her house and her mother talked to her, making her confess whatever Cynthia was doing. However, she wasn't going to mention it. She was feeling uncomfortable with Arantxa's presence, and especially with her "interview", so by talking about Meredy she would be giving more information to that odd woman. Couldn't she leave her at ease with her homework? She already felt odd while doing homework at a rebel force vehicle, so she didn't need anyone else to remind her of that. Besides, she didn't like the new girl, for some reason. She couldn't tell if it was her appearance, her accent or her behavior, or just the fact that she was a friend of Hazel, but there was something she didn't like of her.

Maybe it was her appearance, after all. She had to admit that Arantxa was better-suited for being in a rebel group rather than herself, with her private school uniform. The black, rather thigh trousers that matched with Arantxa's hair looked better than Cynthia's kilt skirt and shoes. And don't even mention the petroleum color t-shirt with a grey cotton vest that Arantxa used to wear. That was stylish, and not Cynthia's red tie, that she would use as a bandanna when she was about to pass away of boredoom.

It had to be her appearance, Cynthia went on thinking, jealous. That was how she felt. Jealous of that woman. Arantxa was free, looked well in her own style, and seemed to be much easy-going than what she was. What's more, Arantxa seemed to know Hazel much better than what Cynthia thought, and that wasn't fair, because she had been with her cousin when she was down. She had to be the one who knew her the most, and not that easy-going, odd-named woman who would appear and dissapear as she liked.

"Is it just me, or you don't stand me much?", Arantxa asked the student, reading the latter one's mind.

Cynthia sighed, and looked at her. "Look, I don't have time for some cheap, soup-opera like melodrama. I have lots of delayed homework to do, so..."

"Maybe... could it be that you are jealous?", the black-haired woman asked, a slim smile drawing in her lips.

Cynthia rolled her eyes, annoyed. "If I had to be jealous of someone, then it had to be of....", the youngest girl started ranting energically, but then she realized that she didn't know who she could name. She had just been defeated. "Alright, I'll admit it, yes, I'm jealous!", she added, softer, as she frowned her dark brown eyebrows.

"Me 1 - You 0", Arantxa teased her, trying to cheer the girl up. However, as Cynthia's eyebrows frowned even more, she realized that she would have to stop having that teasing attitude in front of the girl, if she wanted to have a relaxing, peaceful relationship. "Alright, I'm really sorry, I couldn't help it", she apologized quickly, sincerely. "I just tried to cheer you up... I always try to cheer people up with bad jokes or silly commentaries"

"What a way to cheer people up... teasing them", Cynthia complaint, annoyed.

"Sorry, it's the 'big sis' attitude which makes me act like this", the black haired young woman explained, slightly embarrassed. "Don't think that this easy-goingness didn't put me into some troubles", she let in clear quickly, sighing.

"I wouldn't loose if I were to bet it", Cynthia teased her, chuckling.

"At least, you stopped being deffensive for a second", Arantxa said, with a wide smile showing her triumph. "And you've become the teasing one"

Cynthia frowned, defeated once more. "Alright", she sighed. "However, I wasn't going to argue with you all day. I was planning to ignore you"

"Can't we try to be friendly towards each other?", the black-haired woman asked the youngest one. "I mean, we don't have to become friends, but it will be healthier than arguing the entire day like cats and dogs"

"I can't help it, I barely stand you", Cynthia admitted, as she talked moving her plastic ruler as a pointer. "I can't be friendly with someone that I dislike. And before you ask it, I don't know if it's because of your attire, your attitude or because you seem to know Hazel much better than what I do", she said, exposing her feelings uncounsciously, as she kept on playing with the ruler.

Arantxa looked up, understanding the entire situation, finally. "I know that my attitude is quite... odd for new people, but it helps me to survive, so I won't change it", she started explaining the schoolgirl. "My attire... well, I've just came from my cheap hotel room, so that's why I look better than you... By the way, your's not an ugly uniform", she stated, staring at Cynthia's clothes.

"Very funny", Cynthia said unenthusiastically. "You have to look for new strategies to befriend distant people"

"No, I'm serious", Arantxa insisted, concerned. "I've seen many uniforms, that were really ugly... besides, I always wondered how it felt to wear an uniform to go to classes"

"Quite boring, if you ask me", the brown haired student replied, glaring at her red tie. "It's really annoying in summer, when you have to wear cotton socks and a shirt, while everyone walks around you in shorts, miniskirts and sleveless t-shirts or tops"

"Then, I've been really lucky to attend public school", the black-haired girl laughed, friendly. "However, back on topic... I think that what irks you the most is my relationship with Hazel"

Cynthia frowned again, annoyed that the new girl understood how she felt. "That's right... I can't help it... I thought I was the only one she had in the entire world. Then, you come, with your fresh and friendly attitude, and understand her much better than what I can... It's not quite fair"

"No one said that life was fair, in first place", the black haired woman stopped her, seriously. "And who told you that I fully understand Hazel, or that I know her well? Your cousin is a mystery all by herself, especially if she doesn't let people to get near her to help her"

"You are right about that", Cynthia stated thoughtfully. "However, you seem to know her better"

"I'd like to, but I don't know what really happened to her after the so called spaceship accident, so you don't have to be jealous of me", Arantxa said, friendly.

"I have the advantage there", Cynthia stated, triumphally.

Arantxa smiled, rolling her eyes. "Alright, let's be co-workers, at least for the time being", she said, offering her hand to the youngest girl.

"Comrades", Cynthia said, greeting the other. "Nobody's gonna pay you for your help here"

"I know", the black-haired girl said, chuckling. "But I would really need some cash"

Cynthia giggled. "Would you mind doing my homework, then? I could give you some bucks"

Arantxa sighed. "I said I would need money, not that I was planning to do anything for some dollars"

Cynthia laughed at that.

Arantxa smiled, relieved. "See? We can learn to treat each other well and spend a good time together", she said, friendly.

Cynthia smiled lightly... maybe the stylish newcomer was right...

* * *

The evening sun stroke at Ares's eyes, harmful. Blinded by the light, he walked slowly through the tree-less area of the park.

For some seconds, he wanted to escape. He wanted to leave that empty place. Why did he thought that it could be a good idea? Now, that answer was beyond himself.

He needed to take a glimpse at what he had done, and what someone else had done to him. The monolith that stood in front of him was a memorial for the ones that had died at the Bonaparte III, it was true, but it also stood out there for the ones who had fallen on Antilia, on the Aumann incident and in any Earth-Mars encounter. Taking in count that Zephyrs, an Earth officer, had taken his family and other people to use as Lab material, he could also say that the monolith stood there for his family, too.

And it also stood there for him, in a way. The Vale Shatner that he was meant to be and that could be had to be buried somewhere. That Vale that Zephyrs captured for his experiments wasn't the same one that sank the Bonaparte in revenge. And neither that Vale nor Ares were like that innocent child that had his innocence torn apart in the hands of a mad scientist, literally.

And since neither his parents nor his meant-to-be self had real graves, the monolith was that best place where he could think about them.

It felt... strange. He wasn't used to cemeteries or places where he could let go his grief. What's more, he wasn't used to let it go. Since he had left Zephyrs' Laboratories with Myona, he couldn't recall a time where he had cried freely. He couldn't cry in front of his sister, because someone had to give her strength to go on, and he was the only one left. Slowly, he forgot how crying was like.

However, he couldn't shed a single tear, not even now, that he was completely alone. He couldn't tell if it was good or not, but... there was something strange within him. It was as if he was still numbed by the pain he had felt over all those years.

Standing in front of that monolith didn't make him cry, but it made him think. Many questions started to appear on his mind, all related to his past, present and future. What would he be doing right then if he hadn't been a Lab subject? Would he have joined BIS, nonetheless, or would he have joined BAHRAM, or the Earth military? Maybe he wouldn't have been interested in politics, and he would have been doing something else. The Bonaparte wouldn't have been sank, and he wouldn't have met Cage, and so, Myona would still be single... Maybe not. Maybe all that people would have died, either on the Bonaparte or somewhere else. Maybe he would have met Cage and all the others, in other circumstances. He would never know.

What would have been of the entire Solar System if Metatron had never been found? The world would be totally different, that was for sure. Maybe some wars wouldn't have taken place, and the Universe would be a better place to live...

Ares chuckled at the last remnants of his already torn apart innocence. He knew well human nature, especially human hatred and cruelty... Wars would have occured, nonetheless. Metatron, oil, gas, water, sand, anything could make it... He could name reasons without taking a single breath. The seek for power was innate to human beings, and as long as there were humans in the Universe, and as long as there was something that could give power to a person or country, Wars would take place, no matter what.

Time after time, he kept on wondering what could have been of his life if nothing had ever happened... What would have happened if his parents hadn't chosen that flight, or if Zephyrs's had never been born... It was useless, but he would have liked to take a glimpse at what he could have been...

The sound of footsteps coming towards his direction brought him back to reality. Slowly, he turned back, instinctively. Much to his surprise, he found Hazel walking to the monument, with some strong, blonde guy at her side.

Hazel froze when she saw Ares's figure standing in front of the monument. Her eyes opened wide, but this time she didn't cry. She just stared at him, coldly, expressionless. Rage and surprise took over her, but not hatred.

"Hazel, what's wrong?", the blonde young man asked her, concerned. However, he didn't need her to reply to know what was going on. "Is this the one who...?", he asked, nervously.

"What are you doing here?", Hazel asked Ares sharply, her blood running fast with rage.

Ares didn't reply, and looked in another direction, ashamed. Ashamed of having been found out in that place, ashamed for just having been found.

Alen, the blonde guy, stared at both Hazel and Ares, trying to find an answer to who he was. Now, it was obvious that he had done it. Abruptly, the strong-built young man started walking to Ares's side, but Hazel stopped him.

"No, Alen, wait!", Hazel implored him, dragging him back. "We can return later... don't waste your time with him, I beg you!!"

"You can't expect me to stay with my arms folded when the one who killed my sister is standing a few metres ahead", he told her, furiously.

"But you are a professional athlete. You'll get banned if you hit someone!", Hazel went on yelling, trying to make her friend come into reason. For the first time, she realized the consequences of telling the truth. There are some things that some people should never know... Now, Alen was suffering the same pain that she was having... and like her, he just wanted to make that damned guy disappear from the face of Mars.

Ares stared at the strong guy that was coming ahead to him. It would be useless trying to explain to him how things were at that moment, but he wasn't going to stay there, while the other hit him; nor he was going to run away.

He was no match to that strong, enraged guy, but he wasn't going to run away. On the other hand, maybe that guy could put an end to all his troubles... Still, he didn't want to give up so easily...

"No! Stop it!", Hazel yelled, standing in between them. "Please, stop it!", she said, as she pushed Alen backwards. "We won't solve anything this way!"

"Can you think of something better, then?", Alen asked her sarcastically, glaring at Ares.

"Don't spoil your life with him, you don't deserve it", Hazel told him softly, staring at his eyes.

"Don't commit the same mistake, then", Alen advised her, still enraged.

Heck, he was far too right. She was just thinking about it all the time. She was watching her parents's ship explode constantly for the last few weeks... and the worst thing was that nothing would change. If she just kept thinking about it, she would go mad. And if she went on blaming Ares all the time, her life would turn into a living nightmare, worst than what it was now, worst than what it had been almost two years ago.

"I shouldn't have talked to you about it... and yet I needed to share it with someone else. It was driving me mad..", she started explaining, feeling remorse. "I didn't realize it would be that harmful to you... I should have realizedc it... Please, forgive me", she begged Alen, sincerely.

"I forgive you, but I can't do the same with that bastard", Alen roared, glaring at Ares. "Hazel, let me go! How can you stand in front of him without doing anything?", he complained, trying to get rid of her embrace. He could easily knock her over with his strength, but he couldn't do that to a friend, and not even to any woman.

"Just don't go!", Hazel begged him, crying openly now. "Don't ruin your career with him, please!"

"I won't go much further in my career, so let me go!", the blonde young man told her, rageful. "Can't you understand it? It's like seeing Melissa's death again!"

Hazel didn't said anything, but grabbed him tighter, so he couldn't get rid of her. "I know how you feel, believe me, but killing him, or just hurting him won't bring my parents nor your sister back to life", she said, her eyes closed, yet tears falling from her gray eyes.

"But believe me that my sister would feel much, much better, wherever she is now", Alen said, slowly getting into reason. Still, Hazel didn't let him go, just to make sure that her friend wouldn't jump over at Ares.

Without looking for it, the answer to Ares's last question was standing in front of him. If nothing had ever happened, Ares could have been like Alen. Like him, Alen had a sister, and he would have done anything to stop anyone who would harm her. He could see in that hurt boy what he could have had, if Zephyrs had never existed. Alen had most of the things he would have like to had: he was tall, strong, rather handsome (not that Ares wanted to win a beauty pageant or anything like that, it was just another statement in the 'I would have had' list he was making at that moment), a life ahead to enjoy and to share with friends and with a girl like Hazel, who could have been much better if he hadn't stepped in her life, indirectly.

Life had its mysteries. Why couldn't he be like Alen? He had everything to be like him, but he lost everything on the way.

"What are you waiting for?", Hazel asked Ares, irritated. "Do you want him to kill you, that you are still standing there? Get away!!"

For a second, Ares believed that Hazel still cared for him, much to her own disappointment. Whatever the case was, he couldn't find out if that was true or not, because he wasn't sure about how much time Hazel could control Alen from jumping at him. Not that he thought he was wrong. In fact, Alen was rather calm, maybe too calm, being in front of the one who had killed someone close to him.

Silently, Ares turned back and started walking slowly, walking away from the monolith, from Hazel and Alen, and from his past and possible future. It had been a bad idea going there, after all... Thinking too much about the past and about what could have been but never would be wouldn't help him to live his present. He should tell Hazel that, whenever he could talk to her without being hit or pointed at with a gun.

Alen and Hazel stared at him as he walked away slowly. For the first time, Hazel didn't feel hatred towards him, just... something hard to tell. She hadn't had time to remember that she hated Ares, because she was too busy trying to prevent Alen from killing the light haired boy with just one hit. Even if Alen was a gymnast, and not a boxer, one strike from those heavy arms could be fatal for everyone.

However, she felt something close to peace this time, after realizing that she hadn't had the time to hate him. Slowly, she leant her head towards Alen's chest, and stared at her BIS companion silently, wondering if she was starting to forgive him, or if she was so numbed that couldn't feel anything else.

* * *

Mikenne heard a door slamming. Quickly, she got from her bed in a jump and rushed to Ethan's room. Without asking, she got into the room.

She should have called first. If she had been a couple of seconds late, she must have seen him completely undressed. She sure had such bad luck. Or maybe she had to re-think the concept of bad luck.

She stared at him embarrassed, both because she got into his room without calling and because he was partly undressed, with his chest bare.

He stared at her more annoyed than surprised. "If you had done something like that a couple of weeks before, I would have given in, most surely", he told her, putting a shirt on.

"Amante is here, and she thinks that you are an Earthian spy", she said, all of a sudden. "She wants to see you"

Ethan dropped in the bed, defeated. Things weren't on his side, lately.

"Tell me it isn't true", Mikenne implored him, softly. Strangely in her, her emotions were flowing freely, as she was repressing a pair of tears, with her fists tightened. "Tell me that you aren't a spy for the UNSF, please", she begged once more, almost whispering.

Ethan stared at her, surprised. As he had said before, if this had happened a couple of weeks, or even days before, he would have given in and forgiven her anything. But it was too late. She had already gotten beyond the point of no return to him.

"And what if I were?", he asked defiantely, while he buttoned his shirt. "Will you kill me? Will you deliver me to Amante in a silver tray?", he asked her, energically.

"No! I won't do that, even if you had the order to kill me! I won't betray you! I owe you too much to do something like that...", the red-haired girl bursted into shouts, interrupting him.

Ethan stared at her, pale. His self-conceited, strong guy facade suddenly fall down, touched by Mikenne's new, fragile attitude. He had never seen her like that, in all the time he knew her. Not even while they've been in Elysium County, where they got to know each other better, and where she was more relaxed than when she was near Marrek.

"Would you keep silent for me?", he asked her, almost speechless.

She didn't turn back to face him, she just nodded silently.

"I... damn you, Mikenne, why weren't you like this from the very beggining?", he asked her, annoyed.

"At least now you know how I could be...", she replied back, sighing. "So, all this time, you've been spying for Earth?", she asked him, with a hint of disapointment in her voice. "I won't say anything to anyone... if I would, I wouldn't have warned you about Amante being here", she explained, trying to gain his trust once more.

"I think you need no answer to find out, at this rate...", he just answered, staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. "The worst part is that it was all for nothing... Those bloody bastards won't even help me to avenge my sister's death... after all the spying I have done for them..."

In his own words, he realized the emptyness he was now standing into. All what he had done, all what he had said, had been all in vain. He did it with the best of the intentions, and what did he got in exchange? Nothing. Not even a word of thanks. He had taken many risks, faked his life at the extent of believing in his own lies, and... what for? Silence and void were the only things closest to his reward. Now, he was at the verge of getting caught, and he had no one to help him, if he excluded the moody, enigmatic red-haired girl that had hurt him greatly before.

Dreams shattering, believes crumbling... he had never thought that something like that could happen to him. Reality hurted him like two cold knives slashing him, or like hitting the ground after falling from a sixth floor. Reality left him a bitter scent... one he would have to learn to live with, if living was still worth...

Mikenne could understand him. She had also seen the emptyness that surrounded her. Like him, she had once believed in something, and then had seen the dream fall into pieces. She had moved from the heroic, youthly dream to the early adult bitterness. Unlike Ethan, she had known it for a long time, and had learnt to live with it.

Silently, Ethan walked to his closet, and started looking for something. After a few silent seconds, he found it. He grabbed his gun and handed it over to her. "Shoot me", he ordered her, emotionless. "If you had ever felt something for me, it doesn't matter how strong it was, then shoot me. I'd prefer to die by your hands rather than hers"

She stared at him, her eyes wide opened. Her supposition was coming true. "You don't mean...?", she tried to ask him, trembling.

"What you've heard", he told her, emotionless. "Can't you see that now that I can choose how to die, I'm choosing you for the job? I'd like to ask you something more romantic, trust me, but there's not much I can offer you in this situation. Come on, I won't haunt you from my grave", he teased her, trying to make the situation lighter, but it was difficult.

To be sincere, he didn't want to die, but he had no other way out. Amante would kill him, if she found him. He could escape, but he would have to spend many months, even years, running away from a place to the other to avoid getting caught. He knew well how BAHRAM worked, so he knew that he wouldn't have peace until either Amante died, or BAHRAM desintegrated for once and for all... If he stayed in one place, he would most surely die in some "stupid accident", like stabbing himself in the back, or something silly and unbeliable like that.

Mikenne just stared at him, hesitant and afraid.

"Come on, grab it!!", he yelled at her, irritated. Her passive attitude was making things worse to him.

Mikenne grabbed the gun, hesitantly. She stared at it, as if it was the first time she saw one. Slowly, she pointed at him. Her hand was shaking as it had never done before. She closed her eyes, and the trembling disappeared. She sighed, and put her finger in the trigger. Slowly, she started pressing it, slowly...

A strong, cold sound could be heard. She closed her eyes, as a tear started running wildly along her cheek.

.

.

.

Ethan stared at her, his eyes wide open. "Why didn't you shoot?", he asked her, astonished.

Mikenne stared at the gun for a second, then he looked at him. "I just can't", she said, softly. "Don't ask me to kill you, because I just can't"

Ethan got up at once, and tried to reach the gun. However, Mikenne stepped in one of his hands, while she kicked the gun with her other leg.

"Let me be!", Ethan yelled at her, angrily. "Why can't you do something you are way too used to do?"

"Because I want to help you, and killing yourself won't solve anything!", Mikenne yelled, energically. "Do you think that you will change the world with your death? Do you think that things will become what they should have been?", she asked him, softer. "If you think that, I'm sorry to tell you that you are too wrong. You won't change anything. You'll just become a corpse, a number in some cold statistic chart. Marrek will still be the same jerk he is now. Amante will say that she was right and that she knew it all along, and that you killed yourself because you were just a lousy Earthian coward. You won't avenge your sister. Earth won't give a damn for you, as it does now. I... I would be too disappointed at you, if you want to know my opinion", she said, ending in a whisper.

Ethan looked down, ashamed. She was too damned right. But he would get killed, nonetheless. "Alright, all that makes sense", he said, defeated. "But what do you suggest me to do? Amante will track me until I go down, you know...", he said. Slowly, he was returning to his usual self, or close to it, as he would never be the same person he had benn until Ruth's death.

"Run away from here", Mikenne encouraged him, sitting by his side. "They are all busy with something else right now. Pick up your frame and run away. I'll cover you the most I can. And I won't say a word", she pleaded him, desperately.

Ethan stared at her, confused at the entire idea and at her change of attitude. He stared at her as if it was the first time he had ever seen her. And in a way, it was, because he had never seen her so... passionate about something. She had always been cold and distant, and would only show a little bit of her thoughts in rare occassions. Watching her smile was like Christmas: it only happened once a year.

Now, even if she wasn't smiling, she wasn't in her normal self. She was trembling, sobbing. She was scared of the future, of what may happen to him and to her, for backing him up. And still, she was decided to help him.

"Why do you do this?", Ethan said, handing her a tissue. "I mean... you are risking your life. I don't want to be responsible for your death, so I'll have to take down your good offer", he said, politely.

Mikenne dried up her tears with a tissue. "Don't worry about me", she said, calmly. "I'm a bit more useful for them, so they won't shot me down that easily", she said, trying to smile. It sort of made her muscles hurt a little, that spoiled smile. "Now... go, before they realize you are here", she encouraged him, patting him in the shoulder. "Don't return. Leave this damned place and don't look back. Return to Earth, and start your new life, for yours and Ruth's sake", she advised him, friendly.

Ethan stood up, and went to his closet, thoughtfully. "Thanks for your piece of advice, but I have to deal with some things first", he said, as he started picking his things before running away.

"Don't...", Mikenne whispered, but couldn't go on. He wouldn't listen to her. He was blind and shocked, and would only think in his revenge towards Marrek. She couldn't blame him, after all he knew who had killed his sister, but... was it worthy to spoil his life murdering a jerk?

"What? Are you trying to stop me, now that you know that I won't hide myself from the very beggining?", he asked her, trying to sound tough again, but looking at Mikenne and finding a vulnerable girl that wanted to help him made him stop jerking around her.

"I can't blame you...", she said softly. "But I don't want you to do something stupid, once you have the opportunity to run away from all this crap"

"Then, why don't you come with me?", he asked her, curiously.

Mikenne stared at him, resigned. She tried to smile, but she was too tired and defeated for that. "Thanks, but I can't", she turned down the offer, saddened. "It's a long story... maybe you'll listen to it some other time, but not now"

Ethan shrugged, confused at Mikenne's contradictions. What could be so strong to make her stay, if she didn't want to know anything with BAHRAM?

He had never seen her like that... vulnerable, soft, depressed like that...

Ethan stared at some things from his closet, analyzing if there was anything else he needed. Among all those things, there was something that wouldn't make much use to him, but that would come in handy for the red-haired girl. "Take them", he said, as he tossed a cardboard box to Mikenne. "I think you are going to need them more than me, if you are changing your attitude", he said, friendly. "Feelings hurt"

Mikenne grabbed it before it fall to the ground. She was slightly surprised by what she now had in her hands. Cotton handkerchiefs. It must have been years since she last saw them. Handkerchieves were rarely seen, after having been replaced by tissues, and cotton was just so Earth-like. Most of the cotton in Mars was imported from Earth, as their own cotton was way too expensive, as it was made under tough processes which tried to resemble the Earthian environment.

"Thanks", she said, still puzzled. "I think you are trying to tell me that living is hard... you should also remember it well", Mikenne said, staring thankfuly at him.

"I don't know if I wanted to mean that", he said, shrugging. "I only think that if you are starting to feel things, or at least to show your feelings more, you are going to suffer more than now, so you'll spend more time crying. That's all", he said, zipping his rucksat.

It was all over. He had just finished packing his few things, and now he was about to leave. Having talked with someone had helped him a little, but he still felt a huge burden over his shoulders and the feeling of having been betrayed by anyone and everyone. A sense of bitterness and shattered dreams and believes would be his new companion, rather than his cold companion and his wannabe-tough-woman of his twin. A remorsing concience and guilt would haunt him more than the jerk that he wanted to kill to avenge his twin. And the idea of having lost his life after a false cause was the new axis in his life. He would have to learn to live with that...

He picked his rucksack, emotionless. His new, fugitive life was just starting in front of his eyes.

"Take care", Mikenne whispered. She was making a big effort to look serene, but her nerves and emotions were betraying her. Still, she didn't jump at him and embraced him, as she really wanted.

"I'll try", he said, giving her his hand to stand up, thing that the girl accepted, thoughtless. "You too", he told her, distantly.

Instead of walking away, Ethan kept on staring Mikenne for some moments, thoughtfully. If only everything had been different... maybe he could have had the chance to discover her real self among the tough, also in pain -just like him- young woman. But now he hadn't time. Maybe if he made it and avoided Amante's future murdering attempts he was most surely going to experience from then on, he could try to contact her in the future...

Awkwardly, he moved his face nearer hers. She didn't move, astonished. It just couldn't be happening to her... something like a kiss was non-existant to her.

Still awkwardly, he kissed her gently in her cheek... the only thing he could give her at this rate. Again, if everything had been so different...

Silently, he waved at her and walked away from his room, in haste.

Mikenne sat down on his former bed, her eyes lost in the nowhere. As she grabbed the cardboard box with one hand and touched her kissed cheek with the other, silent tears started falling from her once thought dried up forever eyes.

If only everything had been different...

* * *

If things had been different, he would have congratulated himself for his "perfect timing".

But this wasn't the case. Ares wasn't to blame for walking into the corridor just after Hazel had walked along his door, coming back from the Monument. Nor Hazel was to blame for walking at that exact moment of time.

They looked at each other, silently and shocked. Ares stepped into the corridor, while the sound of the door closing itself was the only thing that altered the silent atmosphere. He walked a few steps in the opposite direction, when he decided to look back to see if Hazel was there or not.

He found her there, frozen, with her head looking down, obviously ashamed. If he walked to face her, he would have seen her cry silently, pouring all her angst out of her.

"I'm sorry", he mumbled, awkwardly. "I'm sorry for being there at that time... twice, now that I realize it"

Nobody had to be a genius to realize that he was talking about the Bonaparte III incident and about his presence in the park. And it could count for the moment of speaking, also.

Hazel didn't say anything. She didn't feel hate towards him, but she wasn't ready to forgive him, if she would ever do that. Seeing him was like an ethernal reminder to her that her parents –along with so many people- were gone forever.

"Well, I'm off", he told her, puzzled. He still didn't know how to deal with her...

"Wait", Hazel called him, all of a sudden. She had gathered strenght to call him, and was visible shocked. "What were you doing at the Monument's place?", she asked, softly.

Ares walked back slowly. "I had to be there... I wanted to see the place where those who died in any Earth-Mars encounter are homaged... I think that many people that I've met, but that didn't die in any encounter, deserve to lay there, too...", he said, thoughtfully. He was too afraid of hurting her even more with his words.

Hazel didn't say anything, but just cried silently. She did it softly, so he wouldn't tell that she was crying. Or at least she hoped so.

"I may messed it up, but many innocent people have died before, Hazel", Ares went on talking, touched. "Many died in encounters, others during some raids, and many others died being used as experimental subjects", he said, as he recalled those days from his past. "None of those were given anything to be remembered by other generations... I just thought that that Monolith had to stand for them, too", he said, tightening his fists, feeling pure rage for the fate that he had had stored.

Hazel didn't say anything, but she knew he was right. But she couldn't recognize it openly, because she thought she would become weaker and would forgive him easily. In the mess of feelings she had towards him, she still felt closed to him...

"I have to thank you for stopping your friend from hitting me, as embarrassing this is to say", the light-haired guy thanked her, now a bit recovered. "Not that I can't take care of myself, but I'm no match against him"

"You don't have to mention it", Hazel finally say, tears breaking her voice. "I couldn't let him do that. He would ruin his sports career, and we wouldn't have gotten anything out of it"

"I see", he said, thoughtfully. "Thanks, again"

Hazel didn't say anything again. She wanted to run away from there, and she just couldn't. If she was to stay two minutes more, she feared that she would end up crying over his chest, hugging him...

Ares, on the other hand, didn't know if he wanted to leave, or if he wanted that moment to last forever. He had her there, and she wasn't remembering him the number of people he had killed (even if he knew that many had been murdered by Earth Lt. Ned Noachim and his men, he dared not to mention it to Hazel, because he knew she would start saying that it was a lie to make his hideous action less important than what it really had been) or how he did it. Looking at her crying silently and hopeless reminded him of himself, just like looking at Alen made him think in what he could have been.

He wanted to help her, to comfort her... He knew her pain well... Silently, he moved his hand nearer hers. He kept it close to her hand, wishing that he could help her somehow...

Hazel could feel that his hand was near hers, and that angsted her even more. If things were different, she would be crying openly, and wouldn't feel hate or disgust for that hand that he wanted to give him, silently and friendly. If things had been different, she would have grabbed that helpful hand, or she would have just hugged him, looking for a way to ease her pain.

"I've gotta go", the gray-eyed girl whispered, once she found strength from within her. She walked away quickly, leaving Ares all alone in the corridor, once again, his hand laying at his side, dead.

* * *

Mikenne walked thorugh the deserted BAHRAM base corridor, thinking, in her own world. The fact that she had helped an Earthian spy to escape was starting to have effect on her, as she still "didn't get it". She was starting to feel guilty, but guilty of doing what? The poor guy needed someone to back him up, and as no one seemed to care, she had to do it. Apart from the fact that he had helped her at rough times. He had always been there for her in a way, until she told him not to do it anymore. Maybe she was feeling guilty for the fact that she was the one who told him to finish their friendly relationship, rather than for helping him escape. On the other hand, she told him to run away, not to counter-attack. She was worried of what he would end up doing, after all...

She was too concentrated in her pain and everything, that she hadn't seen Dr. Harris until she bumped into him. She shook her head, still confused, while the middle-aged man stared at him, with an uncertain smile on his lips.

"Looks like you are daydreaming, or something like that", he teased her, still smiling. "Something unusual in you, my dear"

Mikenne glared at him, hurted by his words. "You know nothing about me, so don't talk", she replied back, coldly.

"That's what you think, little one", he went on harassing her, serious. "I know more about you than what you imagine. I know how you think, feel and I would even dare to say that I could guess your moves before you even think about it. I've known you since you were born, Mikenne. I've seen you grow up, I've seen you when you lost your father first, then your mother, and then..."

"Cut it there", Mikenne demanded. "It's not necesary to remind me my while life when I already know how the story goes", she replied, defending herself.

"Alright, if you say so", Dr Harris shrugged, acting puzzled. "Whatever... in what were you thinking about now, that you hadn't seen me coming? I mean, I'm not that slim to pass unnoticed...", he remarked ironically. Indeed, he was a fat man.

"None of your business", Mikenne just said, bitterly.

"You were thinking about that Cromwell guy, weren't you?"

Mikenne just stared at him, silently, with her now narrowed eyes.

"See? I knew it", he said, patting himself on one shoulder. "I want to think that you aren't thinking in helping him, or in getting out of here with him... Now that I think it better, you will never be able to do the latter one... not you, little one. You are just a part of BAHRAM... this is your entire life... your parents sort of remain within the group, so you couldn't leave it... Apart from the sentimental bullshit, you just can't. Your perfect obedience..."

"Stop it!", Mikenne yelled. Her shout seemed just like a little, threatened animal would sound like when facing the hunter that was about to kill it. "Stop reminding me what I already know, what I always have on mind! Just stop it, for God's sake!"

Dr Harris stared at her, surprised. "Oh, my, Mikenne... it looks like you have been going through some changes in my absence. You've never been so religious", he said, half seriously, half teasing.

"At least, if you have little to none mercy in your soul, stop tormenting me!", Mikenne begged, almost breathless due to her nervous state.

Dr Harris placed his hands in her shoulders, as father-like as he could be. Deep behind his cinic personality, he had a heart. Tiny, nanometric, but he had it. And now he was feeling the little sorrow he could feel, as he stared at the nervous Mikenne. "Come on, little one, don't cry", he told her, trying not to sound teasing. "What would your corageous parents say if they were to see you crying?", he said, thinking about her deceased parents.

Sadie and Gregor Reiha. Those were Mikenne's parents, as well as his friends, back when they all were young. They've met in University, when the Resistance movements were still learning how to walk. Gregor was studying Mechanics, Sadie aspired to become a Geologist, while he went along the Physician path, just like many generations of his family. He had had feelings for Sadie once, but Gregor was quickier than him and got the girl before he could even notice. They took different paths, but got reunited again in what then became BAHRAM. The Reiha couple followed their youth's ideals, joining the Resistance in order to stop Earth's occupation and bad traits. He, instead, just joined for the money, although he never told them that.

As years passed, he saw how his two friends changed. They became cold, work-aholic, exigent. Just as if something –Metatron, what else could it be?- had swallowed their personalities. They grew up to become battle machines, and they died like that, in combat. Mikenne, on the other side, spent her entire life under constant pressures. OFs had been her childhood toys, her teenage years make-up, and her young adult boyfriends. Growing up in a constant crisis and pressure made her loose her emotions, and made her another machine. But he had been the one who had given her the final touch in that aspect. And now, for the first time, as he thought in the ones that had been his friends, he felt guilty for what he had done to her.

"First, I'm not crying", Mikenne said coldly, staring piercely at his eyes, and interrupting his thoughts. "Second, they are already death... and third, I'm sick of showing everyone what I can do or not, so if I just want to cry, I'll do it. If I want to fight, I'll fight, and if I don't want to live, I'll just die. Just don't ask me what to do or not", she said, before walking away, silently.

Dr Harris stared at her back, the guilt making his heart ache in a way he never thought it could –or that he had forgotten-. He tried to ask her to forgive him, but he was so unused to those words, that the only thing he could do was to mumble some incomprehensible sounds.

Annoyed and confused, he just shook his head, and walked away, trying to forget everything, especially that haunting memory of Mikenne's parents.

* * *

Alright... a short chapter, and everyone seems to go through a crisis... I'm quite happy with this one, but I would like to know what you all think about this... See you!


	22. Acrobatics

Chapter 22: Acrobatics

Hazel sighed, trying to calm herself down.  
She felt so odd, as she had never been to a gymnastics event before in her life. She would have never even thought about attending one, but this one was special, as it was Alen's return to the blue mat, and the reason behind his trip to Mars.  
Alen had been practising gymnastics all his life, but when his sister died, along Hazel's parents on the Bonaparte III, his world stopped. He became depressive, and stopped doing all the things he wanted and liked before. After months of treatment, he started reconsidering to return to his passion, but he had lost his physical state. After a couple of months, he was quite prepared to get in an event. Now, he would find out if he was psychologically prepared or not to start his way back to the higher levels.  
At heart, Hazel believed that he had looked for tournaments on Mars so she would have the chance to see him. Just a cheap excuse to see her, as she wouldn't return to Earth. They had been too dependant on each other in those dark days... He decided to return to Earth, while she couldn't. The psychological treatment the government gave them wasn't long enough to treat her newly acquired phobia to interplanetary travels, as the specialists had decided to focus in the big problem they had in their hands. And so, they hadn't seen each other in more than a year. She wanted to see him, too, but he seemed the most enthusiast. Maybe that was because he had always been much more enthusiastic than her at anything.  
She took a look at the arena. There wasn't many people there. It was a small tournament, so all the ones that had a place had to be the gymnasts' friends and family. Apart from the judges and the organization, she highly doubted than anyone who didn't know the boys would be there.  
Then, she looked at the gymnasts. Many of them were younger than Alen -they had to be thirteen or fourteen... some even younger-, and it had to be their first big tournament. Others were older than him, and that had to mean that they had to leave the circuit for some reason, too, or that they were amateurs that had taken up the sport as a hobby.  
And it was then when she noticed his face staring at her.  
He smiled at her, looking both secure and nervous. She could tell that he was more nervous than anything. He was trying to re-gain the course of his life, something that she hadn't done, yet. She had been living for the sake of living. She wasn't strong enough to face her life, and she still doubted she would ever do it again. Now, if Alen could hear her right now, he would start nagging her for having so negative thoughts...  
She waved at him, shyly. She also had her hair tied up in a ponytail, just as he liked it, as far as she recalled. Why? She just couldn't tell why. Just because he liked it. He had been an important support in her so messed up life, so at least she had to do some things he liked in return. For example, attending this tournament, and having her hair tied up in a ponytail.  
Right then, she noticed two newcomers sitting, one at each of her sides. Surprisingly, they were Arantxa and Semyl.  
"Wow, who would have said it?", Arantxa teased her. "I didn't know you were looking for strong, musculous guys, Haze!"  
"Quite a nice catch!", Semyl said, amazed. "And even if he's already taken, there are many more to see!!"  
"Girls... what are you doing here?", Hazel mumbled, embarrased.  
"So you've been hiding this interesting piece of mankind all for yourself for all this time?", Arantxa asked, amazed. "In that case, congratulations! I would have done the same!", she said proudly, patting Hazel on the back. "I wouldn't like anyone to try to catch him, too!"  
"It's not like that!!", Hazel managed to mumble, totally embarrassed.  
"Yeah, say what ya' want, but the girl with the difficult to pronounce name is damn too right!", Semyl exclaimed, her eyes wide open in awe. "They are all so hoooot!!"  
Hazel rolled her eyes, while her cheeks bright red, embarrassed. Things couldn't get worse. Only Cynthia was missing... and that would be enough...  
"Hey, your friend's looking this way!", Arantxa exclaimed, excited.  
"What?!?", Hazel whispered, blushing even more, if that could be possible.  
Just as Arantxa had stated it before, Alen stared at her from afar, and guessing her situation, he laughed at her, as he waved to them.  
Hazel waved back and look down, until the red in her cheeks would at least tone down.  
"Hey, too bad Cynthia couldn't come... she would be in Heaven right now!", Semyl stated, smiling. "Myona, as she's already with Cage, wouldn't have taken much advantage of this!"  
"Don't think so... Cynthia claims to be the most fashionable girl around, but I bet my soul that she's after the bohemian type", Hazel said, chuckling.  
"Really?", Arantxa asked, surprised. "I would have said she was after blonde, model-like boys"  
"She may never admit it, but she doesn't like that type", the light blue-haired girl said, smiling. "Now, he's about to start his routine", she said, nervously, her eyes fixed in her friend.  


* * *

The rings are suspended on wire cable, and the gymnast must perform a routine demonstrating balance, strength, power, and dynamic motion while preventing the rings themselves from swinging. At least one static strength move is required, but some gymnasts may include two or three.  


* * *

Mikenne prepared herself a coffee in the almost abandoned BAHRAM base, thinking about... nothing in particular. Life was somewhat awkward, now that the place was almost empty, and they had almost nothing left to fight.  
Not that it mattered much to her. She had already lost her faith in BAHRAM and Martian freedom and all... It just looked like a crappy excuse to fight because of fighting, without any real objetive. And she had no objective nor anyone to fight for...  
And it was then when she recalled part of her own story, long time buried in the whirlpool that was her mind.  
Mikenne had never had a normal life. For her, life meant BAHRAM and war. Her father had died in war when she was little, and her mother fell down in the Antillia Raid, leaving her all alone, with some "future heroine" aura for some people in BAHRAM, after loosing her parents in battle, and having raised within the organization. She trained to become an ace runner. If you were to ask her some trivial question about general knowledge, she wouldn't know what to answer. But if she were to be asked some difficult question about Metatron, Orbital Frames or battle strategies, she would have answered in a matter of seconds. War was her life.  
But it was painful to her... she only knew how to battle, and little else. Most of the people at BAHRAM didn't have a high opinion on her. Many were just jealous of her fighting skills, and others couldn't tolerate her obedient behavior, that have made her leave people she could have helped behind. Many unlucky soldiers had been killed after being left behind by Mikenne on the battlefield, who thought that battle was first, instead of her fallen comrades. A few people that had been nice to her died that way. And many people thought that she was responsable of having denounced a couple of fellow soldiers. Surprisingly, those soldiers had been caught with foreigner people -people that didn't belong to BAHRAM- inside the base, and nobody had ever seen them again.  
Mikenne just acted as if she ignored those commentaries, but they hurt her greatly. It was true that she had left some comrades in trouble behind, but they were in War... anyone would have done the same if they would have been in her shoes. Every time she got into a LEV or OF, the rest of the world didn't matter. It was just trying to hunt down the objective, the enemy unit. She has been raised that way, she has been taught those things since she was little. It was natural to her.  
In one of those missions, she left behind someone close to her. She couldn't do anything, her superiors were urging her to return to the base for a re-supply. She couldn't help her friend.  
She felt so lonely and angry with herself, but she couldn't do anything to save him. She didn't have any power there, rather than running an OF or a LEV. She had ruined his life, as well as other people's life, like his family and friends...  
Mikenne could never forgive herself for what she had done. And so, she committed another mistake, ruinning her life, this time.  
She got to know that some Dr Harris was looking for volunteers for some scientific experiment involving Metatron. She also knew that many subjects had died during the experiments, so she thought that that was her golden chance to get past everything. She couldn't end her life herself, so what could be better than offering it to some madman to do whatever he pleased with her body?  
Her superiors didn't object her decision. In fact, they seemed pleased with it. Looking at the results, now Mikenne understood their attitude. A better runner, a better killing machine...  
She was the only one of that "batch" of volunteers who survived the intervention without any colateral issues. And she was the only one who got results close to those of some Earthian Dr. Zephyrs, who had worked for the UNSF. BAHRAM's copy of the Mindflow System worked marvellously in Mikenne.  
She never understood well what they had done to her, until she was brought under the radiation of the MindFlow System in a battle. Once she got out of it, she didn't know what had happened, until she saw the results.  
And from that moment, she couldn't stop blaming herself for everything. She promised herself to not get emotionally involved with anyone, as she would ruin his or her life. She tried to be distant with everyone.  
And then, Ethan appeared. She did her best to push him away from her, and she succedded. It felt terrible, still. He really seemed to like her as something more than a work-mate.  
However, she knew she couldn't love him, or even like him. She ewould kill him in some way or another, in any way. Stoically, she repressed her feelings, until she believed she didn't feel anything for him. Or for anyone, for that matter. Befriending someone would be the first step in their self-destruction, both of the person who would like Mikenne, and for Mikenne herself. She just believed she had become the perfect killing machine since that secret surgery, but now she knew that it wasn't like that. When she was outside the control of that waves system, she could be like everyone else. Just what she wanted to be and she never dared to do. It took her years to find it out, but at least she could do it.  
Now, she just hoped that the Ethan wouldn't do anything stupid to avenge his twin...  


* * *

After a few minutes without anyone performing any discipline, the scene changed completely, as every spot had a gymnast on it.  
"Hey, I'm lost here! Where should I see??", Arantxa asked, confused.  
"It's the floor exercise", Hazel said, pointing to the blue mat. "Alen's right there"  
Arantxa stared at Alen's routine, and as it progressed, she grew more silent and serious. Somehow, his series of spins, and his constant running over the mat reminded her of her own life. Yes, she knew it could sound stupid and crazy, but she felt like that. She had to be in a really emotional state, with her feelings flourishing, or Alen's routine was just so touching and emotive... but in his handstands she could see her struggles, and in his running, she could see herself running away from everything...  


* * *

A series of tumbling passes are performed to demonstrate flexibility, strength, and balance. The gymnast must also show strength skills, including circles, scales, and press handstands. Men's floor routines usually have four passes that will total between 60–70 seconds and are performed without music. Rules require that gymnasts touch each corner of the floor at least once during their routine  


* * *

She was born in Mars, in Vacilia County. She got that odd and difficult to pronounce name due to her long-running Basque heritage, even if she was a fourth generation Martian with little to no chance to see the Pyrinees in her life. But one of her family's traditions was to name their children with Spanish -mostly Basque- names, and to keep their roots as far as they could. They lived in a zone of the neighbourhood with many Spanish and Latin people around, so she learnt Spanish and English almost at the same time, as well as Basque.  
She had always been a trouble-maker of some sorts, even if she was responsible and efficient. But she always smiled charmingly whenever she had to face a problem. She was a social person, and, for some people, she was just charming. For others, she was just unbearable. It had to be for her outgoing personality, that sometimes made her get into others conversations.  
However, she had always had the gift of being at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  
She had always hated BAHRAM since she could recall. She didn't like their authoritative methods, nor believed that war was the only way out against other planet's oppression. She didn't like being treated like a second class citizen, but under BAHRAM's control, she felt like being a hostage. Many of her friends had joined the rebel group, hoping that they would be able to do something for their planet. Most people in Vascilia felt that, and she was like the odd one out that disliked the popular group.  
One thing she was passionate about was photography. She would spend days and days looking for good places to take photos, planning the shots, and thinking in good effects she could get. She loved old cameras, and the already archaic process of processing the materials to get a picture, so much crafty and personal than plugging the digital camera into the PC. Black and white photos were delightful for her, while grabbing the different shades of light and darkness was what she loved in color photography. It was just a matter of fact that she had taken up Photography as her career and life choice.  
One day, after a photo session, she found Paul, a childhood friend she hadn't seen in a long while. They lived in the same block, and done school together until Junior High, when he switched schools. Then, she knew that he had goten into BAHRAM, and had barely seen him again, as he started living at the base, and she was always outside, hanging out with friends or taking photos.  
She was so happy, and he was so eager to know what she had been doing, and as he was in a hurry, he asked her if she could go with him to the base. At first, she declined, but he told her that she wouldn't have to get into it if she didn't want to. With that perspective, she accepted, and they spend the entire trip to the base chatting, trying to tell each other everything they had done since they stopped seeing each other.  
Once they were at the base, he asked her if she didn't want to take a look inside. Arantxa protested, they hadn't agreed that. It was as if he was obsessed with getting people into BAHRAM. She was starting to think that it was part of some manipulation they had since they got into the organization. On the other hand, she was slightly curious, as she wanted to know what could make her friend believe in those people with such a blind faith and passion. Finally, she gave in.  
She got into the base and, suddenly, her believes were starting to crumble. Maybe being at BAHRAM wasn't so wrong. Everyone, or most people, approved the rebel group's activities, she had to be the only one who still oppossed them. Listening to Paul, with the enthusiasm he showed, made her reconsider her point of view.  
By the time she left the base, she had agreed to help Paul by giving him information, and to help to spread the word about BAHRAM. Barely realizing, she had become part of BAHRAM.  
She felt she had to do something for her planet's sake. She was fed up of Earth's control, and how bad Martians were treated. They weren't second-class citizens, they were just had to do something about it.  
She started working for BAHRAM, without letting anyone know in her family. Nobody in her family suspected anything, as they believed that she went somewhere else to take photographs. Everything seemed to be fine, and she got to spend more time with Paul, who was the one who recollected the data for BAHRAM.  
Nothing could be wrong. She was helping a friend, not a rebel organization. Well... she was helping a rebel organization, but for Paul's sake. She barely had any responsibility, she just commented things about BAHRAM, and told them the few things she could gather, and the words on the street about the popular disgust towards Earth. She wasn't doing anything wrong.  
However, things changed.  
One day she decided to visit Paul at the base, after a photo session near the wasteland. As she was close to Paul's base, she thought it could be a good idea to see him.  
After chatting and giving him the few information she had, he proposed her to take a view at the terrace. He thought that it had a great view, but he wanted her to jugde it, as she was the "expert". Arantxa giggled, proud of being called an expert, even if she was just starting her Art studies. Obviously, she accepted.  
Finally, they reached the terrace, and there was a beautiful view of the city, just as Paul had told her. Involuntarily, she grabbed her camera and started taking photographs, enraptured with the view she had. If she had been rational at that moment, she wouldn't have thought about picking her camera from her bag, but she had been taken by surprise by the nature there.  
The sun was slowly setting, and the sky looked bright orange. Darkness was starting to cope everything, and the shadows were larger, covering everything in a long rage of orange and black shades that were driving Arantxa crazy with joy. She started taking several photos, trying to get the light and dark of everyone and every thing that got across her camera.  
Paul smiled, feeling happy for his friend. However, his smile faded quickly, as he saw some of his superiors showing up on the terrace.  
Arantxa turned back, smiling happily, when she noticed her suddenly terrified friend, and the threatening looking guys behind him, she started cursing herself, her luck and Paul with all her strength.  
She would have said that the superiors paid more attention to the camera she had in her hands rather than anything else, as their eyes were fixed in her hands. Strongly and quickly, they grabbed the camera and throwed it to the floor. As the camera crashed into little pieces, she wondered if she would end up like her camera in a not so distant future. Then, they grabbed them from their shoulders and took them to different rooms.  
She could listen, from her room, how they argued with Paul, who told them that she was her contact, and that she had just taken a few shots at the terrace. She suppossed that he was having a rough time, and then, she didn't hear anything else from his room.  
A few hours later, someone told her that she could leave, but they had threatened her first to keep silent about what she had seen or heard at the base. She would have liked to ask what had happened to Paul, but she didn't have the guts to ask.  
She always wondered why they had let her go, especially after having found her with a camera inside the base. Maybe it was because they had caught too many people with strangers inside, as there were too many people around the base when she got out. However, she never did anything to find out. Quickly, she left that hideous place, trying to forget everything.  
She had never heard of Paul again.  
She felt furious at herself. She had been right the entire time. BAHRAM was no good. But Paul made her think different, he made her think that they could make the difference. She had trusted them because she trusted in Paul blindly, and now, she was in great trouble...  
The BAHRAM guys knew where she lived, as Paul had told them everything about her before disappearing, she had heard that at the base, and even if they hadn't done anything to her or to her family, it would be a matter of time before they did. She had heard many stories about people who had been killed or kidnapped because they were considered a menace for BAHRAM. And even if she was just a Photography student, and even if they had broken her camera in front of her eyes, she had been inside their base, with a camera... and that was enough to be considered an enemy. What's more, while the superiors argued with Paul, she found out that they were looking for a counter-spy, and she was the perfect suspect.  
She couldn't stay any second longer in Vacilia. She explained briefly to her family what had happened to her, and, even if it was painful, they understood that she had no other way out rather than leaving. Quickly, she took a few things, her documents and left her home.  
She had been living in different counties, thinking that BAHRAM would chase her. When the situation would get too dense, she would ran away to another county, as far as she could. Her dreams to become a professional photographer would have to wait a long time... either until the War ended, or either until BAHRAM dissappeared from the face of the solar system. Without a stable job and a stable residence, she didn't have much of a future ahead...  
Finally, time weakened BAHRAM, and that moment found her at Hellespontos. She didn't want to return to her homeplace too soon, because she feared that the terrorist group would still be active, even at low scale. She wasn't ready to return, yet.  
She got an administrative job at Corindon Labs, and befriended the folks there. With her outgoing nature, and the experience she had collected living in all those different counties, she had become an interesting person, at least. Many could barely stand her, but they couldn't say that she didn't try to be charming. Rather than trying to pass unnoticed, she did all the contrary.  
And that charming attitude, as well as her gift for being at the wrong time and the wrong place, helped to sign her runaway destiny, again.  
Some guy at the Labs told her to deliver some important papers to one of the Doctors. She picked them and delivered them, thinking it was something urgent. While it was like that, in a way, she ended up learning that her employers were building something bigger and more important than just LEVs... as she went into the Laboratory without announcing herself, she saw how some people -people she had never seen in her life around the complex- were building Orbital Frames. She could tell perfectly well an OF from a LEV, as she had been raised up in Vacilia, and it was a natural thing to see BAHAM's frames comming and leaving their bases. While her surprise couldn't be bigger, the scientists were annoyed with her carefree behavior, but decided to keep her in the company to have someone who could do the data delivery process easier. That way, they wouldn't have to meet with administrative workers outside the complex, nor they would have to stop their research to get their data. And, that way, only a few people would know about the Laboratory's real work.  
Being in the wrong place at the wrong time turned her into a strong piece inside the company. And, once again, she was some sort of spy, like when she had tried to help Paul.  
When BAHRAM attacked the Labs -she had no doubts it was the Martian rebel group who were behind the attack- she thought that she was just having a deja-v. She had seen many attacks on the TV during the Antilia Raid, and she had had to hide in her home's basement when the UNSF attacked, trying to get rid of the Martian rebels. She had been inside BAHRAM, and she had escaped from it, thankfully. They weren't going to get her.  
Among the turmoil, she managed to escape, and went straight to her home. She didn't care if somebody she knew was left behind in the complex, she just wanted to escape from it. She knew few things, but those could be useful for the rebels.  
She would have to run away, again... She took her few wares and started rotating in many hostels and cheap hotels. She couldn't stay in any friend or acquaintance's home because she barely had any. She didn't want to get too attached to people that she could hurt or get in trouble in the future. She didn't mind much... her survivor spirit came first.  
She got a job at the Spaceport, and there, she found Hazel again. Her paranoid self would have started imagining things if Hazel hadn't been in such a bad shape when she found her again. Luckily for her, she would have to take care of the younger, emotionally broken newcomer. And that, helping people, was something she was fond of... especially if the trouble was big enough to cover her own troubles.  
At the moment of speaking, she had virtually joined BIS, but she knew that it wasn't going to last much longer. Not because she was against BIS, but because she was looking for something else for her life. She was waiting for BAHRAM's demise with all her heart. That had to be the only way she would have to feel safe. She wanted to find a safe place and stay, for once and for all. Vacilia was out of the question: first, because it was BAHRAM's craddle, and then, because all the places she knew must have been in ruins, or damaged. She preferred living with her memories, rather than facing a terrible reality that she wouldn't be able to change by herself.  
However, the damage was now done, and now, she kept on runing away from anyone and from anything. She tried to change everything. She had even changed her name... following the family tradition of the Basque names. It felt so strange... sometimes, she just thought she was representing another person's life rather than her own.  
She just had the strange "gift" of being at the wrong place at the wrong time... she just hoped that she would still have it by the time she would re-start her photography studies...  
"Crap", she thought, bitterly. "That guy had just done an amazing series of sammersaults... and I still haven't bought a new camera...", she sighed, annoyed.  
Sometimes, one can't avoid its destiny...  


* * *

"He did well...", Semyl said, just to say something. She didn't understand much of gymnastics, as it had to be the first time she was paying attention to them.  
"Aha", Hazel replied, staring at her friend.  
Arantxa couldn't say anything, as she still felt too touched after his floor routine, and the way she felt connected with her life.  
"What's next?", the red haired girl asked.  
"The pommel horse...", Hazel replied. "I just hope he won't fall down in this exercise", she said, angstly.  
"Wow, you sure have a high opinion about him", Arantxa teased her, but there was something in her voice that showed that she wasn't acting like she always did.  
Hazel blushed, once again. "It's just that! I'm fearful that something bad happens to him... He gains such a speed when doing those exercises and he gains such high... well, it makes me nervous"  
"Well, at least, he will be close to the ground in this exercise", the black haired girl said, smiling.  
Hazel nodded, thankful.  


* * *

The gymnast swings both legs in a circular motion, either clockwise or counterclockwise, and performs skills like single leg skills, like scissors, or double leg work, on all parts of the apparatus. To make the exercise more challenging, gymnasts will often include variations on a typical circling skill by turning (moores and spindles) or by straddling their legs (Flares). Routines end when the gymnast performs a dismount, either by swinging his body over the horse, or landing after a handstand.  


* * *

Myona decided to visit her brother while she waited for Cage to get ready. They had planned a short trip to the city, but he had fallen asleep and got up later than expected, and so, she had to do some time before he was ready.  
Ares stared at his sister Pharsti, and shook his head. "Something's troubling you, sis", he said, as she stared at him with her big, purple eyes.  
Myona sighed. "It's just that... I feel odd, Vale. I... We've never talked properly since... well, since it happenned", Myona admitted, blushing.  
"You are right", Ares stated. "We took different paths, then you were amnesiac, and when we were together at BAHRAM we couldn't talk properly about it, even if we wanted. And every time we want to talk about it, either an attack happens, or we decide to not talk about it because we feel awkward. And we are just going in circles, all the time around the same trouble."  
"And then you sacrificed yourself... at least you intended to do it", Myona said, saddened, still thinking in the flow of events that shaped their lives.  
An uncomfortable silence filled the room. He wanted to repair his error, but he couldn't. The same machine that he used in their hideous terrorist act saved his life.  
"I know... I still don't know why that frame let me go", Ares replied, as he recalled those moments... When the UNSF missiles were coming straight to the Iblis, the red frame made an emergency operation on its own and released the cockpit, throwing it thousands of miles away, where it could be safe of the UNSF attack.  
"It knew you didn't want to die... that's why it saved you", Myona said, smiling lightly. "And I'm glad it did it, because you didn't deserve to die... nothing would have changed"  
"I know that, but not everyone thinks like that", he said, in an obvious reference to Hazel.  
"That really bugs you, doesn't it?", Myona asked, slightly teasingly. "Let her be for a while. She's in the first phases of the loss, and she'll hate you until she understands that you intended to mend your mistake"  
"I hope you are right. I was starting to like the girl, because it looked like a big chance to help someone who felt like I did at some time. I wanted to help her, as no one helped us at that time", he admitted, sighing. "Too bad that her problem was my fault"  
"You can't go and try to save anyone when you can't take care of yourself or the ones around you", Myona said bluntly.  
"What do you mean by that?", Ares asked, surprised at his sister's sudden change of attitude.  
"You didn't look for me when you were okay", Myona told her sibling annoyed. She was starting to feel remorse for that action he took.  
"I'm ok since a few months ago, I'm not yet fully recovered", Ares started enumerating with his fingers. "I didn't know what to do with my life. I didn't know where to look for you. And in case I were to found you, I thought that I didn't have the right to meet you again... I mean, I love you, sister. I love you as Myona, I love you as Pharsti, I love you whatever you want to call yourself, because I love how you are. I love you because of what you are, and because you are my sister, and you are the only thing I have left, and I could go on endlessly. But I know that I'd be more of a burden than what I can be helpful, and I don't want to be a nuisance in both yours and Cage's life. You know I can't hang out with you all the time. You are a couple, and I don't have to be there. You are already grown-up, and none of you need me. So, even if I hadn't even an scratch from that day, I wouldn't have gone after you. Not because I don't love you, but because I love you too much to go on ruining your life", he said, tears shinning in his eyes.  
Myona took a deep breath, impressed. It had to be the first time her brother talked about his emotions openly, admitting how he really felt within himself. He was right about hanging out with them all the time, but she needed him. He was her brother, and the only family she had left.  
"The other day, at the park... it was strange...", Ares changed the topic, recalling his meeting with Hazel and Alen at the park. "I've found Hazel and another guy that lost a relative at the Bonaparte..."  
Myona shivered, surprised. She wasn't expecting that. It had to be the first time she realized that the victims had relatives and friends, who were also victims of their actions. Hazel wasn't the only one who lost part of her family in the "accident", but she seemed to realize that right then. "I... I don't know what to say...", she just whispered.  
"The worst part is that I saw on that guy what I could have been if nothing of all that shit had ever happenned...", Ares continued. "I even looked slightly like him, physically... It was... shocking"  
Myona stared at her brother speechless, with tears in her eyes. She walked to him and hugged him, as she finally said, softly, "We'll find a way to live a normal life... We won't be able to recover those lost years, but we'll live well the upcoming ones... I'm sure of it"  
"I don't think I'll be able to live much longer, sis", Ares said, coldly.  
Myona opened her purplish eyes widely, astonished. "Wha...t?"  
"We have to admit it... it's a miracle that I've survived the attack. No one at the hospital understands how it is that I'm still alive... However, my health is worsening each day. I'm weaker, and my looks reflect it, even if no one said anything about it here... I know this hurts you, but I thought it would be the best thing if you knew it first, and from my mouth"  
Now Myona was the one who needed support. "So... I'll be all alone in this world?"  
Ares hugged her tightly, while some tears fall from his eyes. "You'll never be alone. You have Cage. You also have the rest of BIS. And in the worst case, our parents and I will be with you from afar, I guess... You'll never be alone"  
Myona said nothing, as she kept on crying.  
"Sis... I just want us to stop thinking about the past... I'm responsible of it, as you just followed me... I was blinded by hate and wanted Zephyrs to pay at all costs. And then I tried to mend my mistake. And, when I thought that life gave me a second chance to start again from zero, that black aspect of my past comes to haunt me, and shows me the other side of the coin: normal people who had had some relatives wiped away from them, just like Zephyrs did with us... And I just can't cope with that. I don't find a way to apologize... I know their pain, but I can't say anything to them because they don't want to hear me. I can't say that I think they are wrong"  
Myona stared at her brother, as his hidden feelings poured outside. "I... I feel horrible, too", she finally said. "I don't know that Alen, but Hazel... even if she doesn't blame me, I can see some dark shadow in her eyes when she stares at me or talks to me... And I can't say anything... And, even if I didn't do much, I'm responsible, too, because I also wanted Zephyrs to pay for what he had done to us... and to all the kids back at the lab. Do you remember them?", she said, smiling as she recalled many innocent faces that were silenced after some hideous experiment done on them.  
Ares smiled lightly. "How could I forget them?", he said, wiping away a small tear. "You took great care of the little kids..."  
"And you made everything that you could do to make me feel well in that Hell", his sister said, grateful. "I think you thought I never realized, but I knew of all the sacrificies that you did to make me smile there"  
He chuckled, trying to rest importance to her thoughts. "I didn't do anything extraordinary... I got more food than what you did"  
"You know that wasn't true!", she complained, and then stayed silent. "I just wish I could stop thinking about it all the time..."  
"We are trapped, going in circles around the same damned thing", he whispered, coldly.  
"And we can't find a way to leave it behind"  
Ares stared at her. "You have a way, and I don't want to sound rude, but you are about to go out with that way out, and I don't want him to see that you've been crying, as I think he'll punish me for making you cry... roles can be reversed, you see", Ares said, trying to make her feel well.  
And he really knew how to do it. He already did that when they were captive at Zephyr's labs, and he still knew. Myona smiled at his statement, gratefully.  
"You are right... I should get going", she said, as she kissed him goodbye.  
Ares looked at her and smiled proudly, thinking that, after all, he was underestimating his sister's strength. She would cry when he will be gone, but she'll go through her loss succesfully. She would do much better than what he did, even if the situation was completely different.  


* * *

The gymnast performs on two bars slightly further than a shoulder's width apart and usually 1.75m high while executing a series of swings, balances, and releases that require great strength and coordination.  


* * *

Semyl stared at Alen's routine, surprised, but after a few moments, she started watching at her surroundings. From the corner of her eye, she saw how happy Hazel was as her friend performed his routine. It was a glimpse of what Hazel had once been with them, shortly before she learnt -the hard, unexpected way- that Ares had been behind the Bonaparte III incident.  
The auburn-haired girl sighed, wondering how it would be to have someone that could understand you just by looking at each other. Seeing Hazel so excited at the gym made her think that Hazel and Alen had that kind of relationship.  
She sighed again, as she recalled that there had been a time when she had had a relationship like the one she was yearning for before. With her former childhood friend Ant she barely needed words. Just by looking at each other, each one could guess what the other one wanted.  
They had met at school, and soon got along well. Being a tomboy her entire life, Semyl felt more inclined to play with the boys rather than with the girls, and Ant didn't mind playing with her, unlike most boys.  
That friendship lasted until the first years of High School. Semyl dropped school to help at the orphanage, and got a part-time job where she met Luke, an Earthian guy who, due to his father's new job, moved to Mars. Being an Earther he was ignored by almost anyone, except for Semyl or any girl who found him cute or hot.  
Semyl felt attracted to him for a number of reasons. There was a physical attraction, she couldn't deny it, but she also wanted to help him to meet other people, as she knew the pain of being all alone in the world.  
She started talking to him, and soon befriended him, but that made her start quarrelling with Ant, who didn't like the newcomer. He thought that he was just using Semyl until he got to know more people... after all, he was Earthian scum.  
Soon, she got emotionally involved with the Terran, and started dating him, without telling anything to Ant. From that point on, Semyl got herself into a deep web of lies and misunderstandings, as she evaded Ant, and lied to him whenever she saw him, and mistook as jealousy the fact that he didn't want her to get hurt from her relationship with Luke.  
Luke, on the other hand, told her that Ant just had to be dead jealous about their relationship, and that, if he wasn't happy for her, he wasn't her real friend.  
Slowly, Semyl ended believing in Luke's words, and Ant started being cold and distant, because she was acting strange and didn't listen to him anymore.  
One afternoon, they quarrelled, and this time, their friendship broke forever.  
Semyl's relationship with Luke didn't last too long, as he started befriended new people and ended up cheating on her.  
An "awwww" from the audience, but especially Hazel's clapping, called her back to reality. Apparently, he had done some rotation in the air and grabbed the bars again, without hesitating.  
Two bars, each one parallel to the other... two identical bars, that can't touch each other. Maybe it's like her and Razma...  
"Razma", she thought, annoyed.  
And why was Razma among her thoughts, out of the blue?  
That annoyed her even more. Why had she think about that idiot, even when staring at just two wooden sticks? But, now that she thinked about it, maybe those bars were like their lives, indeed.  
Like her, Razma hadn't really met his family, as he had his mother, but he couldn't learn who his father really was. The description "a really important Terran" wasn't too descriptive nor helpful, so anybody from the main planet could be, and so, he would never get the chance to meet him. Then, he moved to the orphanage, where he met Semyl, and that strange, siblingly bond started to develop. However, they weren't too aware of each other's existence until Semyl lost Ant's friendship and her break-up with Luke.  
They were both orphans. They had both joined BIS. They both rode LEVs, cared for the children at the orphanage... and, deep inside, they cared for each other. If that wasn't the case, then Razma wouldn't have come in her rescue when she was having a rough time with Ant, after all those years. And even if she wasn't a damsel in distress normally, she had to admit that, at that moment, she was one.  
So... those bars were like both of them, indeed. Clinging to each other, even if they barely had some points in common... If their lives would end up crossing each other, that is, having more points of contact, only time would tell.  
She shook her head, trying to get back to reality, when she heard the other two girls saying that the vault's was next.  
She sighed, shrugging. She couldn't recall what the vault was, but she was just hoping that it wouldn't bring her back some old memories that would be better staying in oblivion, just as she wanted.  


* * *

Gymnasts sprint down a runway, before hurdling onto a spring board. The body position is maintained while blocking with a shoulder movement the vaulting platform, then he rotates to a standing position, while multiple twists and somersaults may be added before landing. Successful vaults depend on the speed of the run, the length of the hurdle, the power the gymnast generates from the legs and shoulder girdle, the kinesthetic awareness in the air, and the speed of rotation.  


* * *

Robin sighed, tired after another day of hard work. She had been trying to get some more data about BAHRAM whereabouts, but she also had to deal with her NUT superiors, who were starting to get nervous about BIS's battles against BAHRAM, and the attention they were getting lately on the media.  
A few metres ahead of her, Twede was sleeping in an armchair, still wearing his glasses and black gloves. She smiled, as Twede was just too neat and tidy, even while sleeping, and, strangely enough, he didn't look as if he was asleep even while sleeping. "Always a professional...", she thought, funnily.  
She didn't mind that attitude. As a matter of fact, she was thankful that he did show human signs, like sleeping, or she would have started thinking that she had been living all these years with an android. It was a good sign, and he needed it, because he couldn't be so neat and efficient for ever. Even if that was a great advantage while working, it made him quite dull, but also interesting.  
She had met him when she started working at NUT, after she graduated. He had been asigned to her when she got promoted to the Information Department, Section 8, after getting into some trouble with her superiors, product of her sense of justice and begginer's enthusiasm. Everyone in that department had some sort of secretary, who would also keep an eye on them, as spying agents for the company. And Twede had to be one of the most effective and loyal around.  
Only that NUT had never expected that Dana -Robin's real name- and Twede, would get along that well.  
They made a good team, even if she always knew that he wasn't suppossed to be her buddy, but her NUT spy. However, they complemented each other like a glove to a hand.  
He followed her everywhere, even when she decided to stay in BIS rather than staying in NUT when she admitted that she had been working secretely for NUT Ltd, after Phil had stated it shortly before running away, when he was on Vale's side. She treasured Twede's choice greatly. She had never thought that he would have the guts or the brains to walk away from NUT.  
After the crisis was over, NUT contacted her again and proposed her to re-start their past agreement. She accepted. As the new head of BIS, she had to make sure that the group would have the correct suply and equipment.  
Everything went smoothly until the last months, with the new encounters against BAHRAM. At the beggining, NUT didn't care much, but with the current situation, with the UNSF after them, and the press spotlight under the rebel forces, NUT was starting to think that it wasn't a good idea to support rebel groups, even if they were their most reliable testers.  
Robin didn't care much personally, but what was starting to trouble her was the fact that she didn't know how to get resources if NUT decided to back-off once more. If BAHRAM continued attacking them, as well as the UNSF, they would get out of supplies too soon. And surrender was a word that didn't exist in her vocabulary, as well as in the other BIS members' one.  
All in all, Twede had always stayed by her side, from the days she was just "Dana, the newbie" to the present. She didn't understand too well why he decided to join her in her "rebel adventure", as she sometimes thought about joining BIS for real, but she was really thankful that he did that. She had become so used to having him around, that now, she couldn't think in life without him.  
He could be too silent and mysterious, have the job done before anyone realized that it had to be done, scare everyone by stating the right thing right behind someone who didn't expect him to be there... he could barely talk about his life, even with her... but he was most precious friend around. She really wondered, but didn't really want to know, how life would be without him around... She wasn't going to let that happen, as far as she could.  
Joining NUT had been an important jump, but working and living with Twede was just a jump to the infinite, in a way. He was such a mystery... a complete challenge to her. And being the head-strong and persistent woman she was, a challenge was just something that was crying out loud to be revealed.  


* * *

"It's the last round, and the only thing that's left to do is the high bar", Alen reminded himself, as he stared at the white wooden bar a few meters ahead of him. "You can do it, boy", he encouraged himself, strongly. "If I do this one well, I could be able to return to the 'big circuit'... I'm not so behind the level I had at that time..."  
That time...  
Oops... he fall on the trap that he had been avoiding succesfully until that moment.  
Alen sighed, angry with himself. Why did he have to mention it? He was so close to finishing, and he had to recall his past...  
He had been practising gymnastics since he was a kindergarten child. His younger sister Melissa, who was two years younger, also took up gymnastics, until she realized it was becoming a tough job rather than an entertainment for her. Alen, however, continued, amazed by the great figures and jumps the older kids did and that he dreamt of performing.  
That had to be one of the few things that Melissa and Alen didn't do together, as they were too close and enjoyed being with each other. Melissa didn't care that other girls called her a tomboy for being always with Alen and his friends, while Alen didn't pay attention when people told him to stop baby-sitting.  
As they got older, they started to walk their own paths, but they still remained close, always trusting in each other, and knowing that the other would be right there when one of them would be in trouble, or if they just felt down.  
Melissa was one of the "things" in his life of what he was proud of. The other had to be his gymnastics abilities, even if he wasn't an extraordinary athlete. He could jump well, and his best exercise was the horizontal bar. He would definetly win a scholarship due to his gymnastic skills, and maybe... who knows? Maybe he could be good enough to compete at the most important levels...  
But everything went down with her death, on the Bonaparte III. Melissa didn't deserve diying that way, nor at that age. She just had to die really old, surrounded by her grandchildren and their children, and not like she did. He lost track of his wishes and dreams with his sister's death...  
He died with her in a way, she had taken with her his life force.  
Even if he had been under psychological treatment until a few months ago, his past hurt him much. He had stopped taking part in gym tournaments because he didn't feel any reasons to live. If his sister had been taken away from him so harshly, what could he expect in the future? Who was the one that could choose who could live and who couldn't? Which reason was behind that selection? Why did people believe that they could do what they pleased with other people's lives?  
He sighed, as he tightened his fists, involuntarily. Why now? Why he couldn't start thinking in those things a few minutes later? Now, his light balance was starting to crack up...  
He sighed again, and looked for Hazel with his sight.  
There she was, staring anxiously at him, with her two friends by her side. However, she looked concerned at him when she realized that he was looking at her. Evidently, she knew what was going on in his head, just by looking at him.  
That was a thing that usually happened with Melissa. And that was one of the reasons why he liked Hazel so much. He knew that Hazel wasn't Melissa, and that she wouldn't replace his sister, but, in a way, Hazel had become his support, his high bar to hang to...  
He had first met her in a tough situation. While his parents were filling all the paperwork required to get aboard a spaceship that would take the people that had lost some relative on the Bonaparte III incident, he decided to get to the terrace to catch some fresh air. If he tried to think it coldly, he didn't know well if he really needed fresh air, or if his uncounscious mind was playing tricks with him and was driving him to commit a stupid thing at that moment. He had never thought about committing suicide, but he didn't know why he felt such a desire to get to the terrace. There, he found a girl that was crying desperately, looking over the edge. He couldn't tell if she was about to jump or not, but he couldn't let her do that. He rushed to her, grabbed her tightly and made her walk away from the edge. While she kept on crying, he tried to convince her to stop thinking about doing stupid things that she would end up regreting in the future. The girl nodded, and when they returned to the waiting area, she waved at him and left, looking for someone else.  
Then, he met her in one grupal therapy session, in Mars. He had moved to Mars with his parents to retrieve Melissa's body, and started attending the psychological sessions on Mars. On the other hand, the burocracy made things harder, and trying to get his sister back to Earth was starting to take much longer than what all of them had ever expected. In a grupal session, he met that thin, shy and teary-eyed Hazel, who couldn't speak a couple of words together without starting crying desperately. He, on the other extreme, couldn't cry, and just felt anger towards the entire world. He liked how that silent girl could let her emotions go wild, when he just stayed there, without finding a way to let go his pain.  
After that session, he tried talking to her. He recalled her well, but didn't know how to talk to her... or to anyone, for that matter, without getting angry at the world.  
Of course, it took him a while to befriend her, considering her shy behavior, which was now worse, due to her angst and her depression. After he befriended her, the two of them were always together, trying to believe back in life... Maybe she started talking to him because she recalled him from that past incident. He wouldn't know. He was just happy that she had accepted his friendship.  
However, the temporary psychological sessions were over, and his family was about to return to Earth. He had nothing in Mars, except Hazel, but he couldn't leave his life back on Earth behind. He tried to convince her to return to Earth with him, but she declined his offer, saying that the only family that she had left lived in Mars.  
He knew she was mostly lying, as she had already told him that she had had several arguments with her aunt, and that she didn't think that she would be able to live with her for much longer. She was just terrified at the only idea of boarding a spaceship, that she preferred to live with people she didn't like.  
He tried to convince her, but it was useless, and so, he returned to Earth. It was then when he started thinking about her much more than what he did, now that he didn't have her around.  
In a way, it was like loosing Melissa for the second time.  
They kept in contact, and he knew rather well how she was doing. But still, he missed her, and wished that she hadn't been so stubborn, so that she would have come with him and join his family in a way.  
Hazel's worried eyes made him finally stop thinking about the past. He smiled to her to let her know that he was well... at least, he wanted her to believe that. And he wanted to believe himself that he was fine... he had no other way out.  
He sighed, shook his head and stood up, getting ready for his exercise, as he was next...  


* * *

A thick steel bar raised 2.5m above the landing area is all the gymnast has to hold onto as he performs revolutions around the bar, release skills, twists, and changes of direction. By using all of the momentum from the revolutions and then releasing at the proper point, enough height can be achieved for great dismounts.  


* * *

It had been a single second, and his hands couldn't grab the bar properly, making him fall down in one of his releases. The falling didn't hurt him as much as the rage he felt with himself for having missed the bar, and for the lack of concentration he had since he had started recalling his past, a few minutes before.  
Right now, he was staring at the bar from below, as he was laying over the blue mat, his breath catching up. That bar now had another meaning to him, rather than the piece of steel that could have just meant for him in the past. Right now, that bar meant the control over his life... and he wasn't going to let it go this time.  
He stood up quickly, before anyone could come and ask him if he was fine. He didn't want to look in Hazel's direction, as he could already feel that she was worried. He wouldn't hesitate this time. Even if his exercise would get less points than what it should have gotten, he was determined to finish it greatly, just as he had envisioned it.  
No one nor nothing was going to take anything away from him, from now on.  


* * *

Finally, the all-around circuit was over, and everyone was starting to get dispersed. In a few minutes, the gym looked quite deserted, with little groups of people waiting for their relatives and friends.  
Hazel, Arantxa and Semyl waited for Alen, but the three girls stayed silent, as if each one of them was still thinking about her lives and circumstances.  
A few minutes later, Alen appeared, carrying his bag, and obviously tired. Hazel couldn't help thinking that the hair that was over his face made him look cuter than what he was.  
"Hi... everyone", he just said, staring at Semyl and Arantxa, as he didn't know them.  
"Ah... these are Arantxa and Semyl, two friends... who somehow found out where I was going", Hazel introduced the other girls awkwardly, because she still couldn't believe how they did to follow her.  
"Hi, nice to meet you", Arantxa said, waving at him.  
"Hi", Semyl said, blushing, and bitting her tongue to not ask him if he had some other gymnast friends around.  
"Hey, you were terrific out there... I mean, you sure express emotions in your routines...", Arantxa started praising him, but stopped talking when he noticed that he was just staring at Hazel, who was just staring back at him. A quite romantic atmosphere had just filled their surroundings, out of the blue...  
Quickly, the black haired woman grabbed Semyl from the shoulders and started walking to the exit, as she waved at the couple, saying, "Alright, enough for today. It was a pleasure meeting you... Hope you'll be fine... Hazel, I'll call you later, now... Bye!"  
"Why are we leaving now?", Semyl asked confused, as she had been staring at the other gymnasts, without paying attention to Alen and Hazel.  
"Because there's something in the air out there", the older girl said, pushing her gently.  
Hazel and Alen stared at the duo as the left the gym, and couldn't help but chuckling at them.  
"Well... we are finally alone", Alen said, smiling.  
"Yes, that's right", the light haired girl said, somewhat relieved. "I don't want to sound rude, but I was eager to see them leaving"  
"I know. You looked more nervous than what I was there"  
"Was it too obvious?", Hazel asked, blushing once again.  
"Well... you were bright red each time I could see you", Alen said, seriously. As he saw Hazel's cheeks brightening even more he laughed. "Ok, I was joking. But you did look somewhat tense"  
"It's just that... well, I didn't expect them to come. And I'm still used to be on my own most of the time", Hazel explained, sighing.  
Alen smiled lightly at her. "The long and troublesome road to become a normal person once again, uh?".  
Hazel smiled lightly, yet nostalgically. "The worst part comes when you were never a social person, so you don't know what's the 'normal' aspect of everything"  
"I thought you had already overcome that"  
"I told you I was trying, not that I had succeded"  
"Still, you don't look like an outcast when I'm around", he said, embracing her by passing his arm over her shoulders, while guiding her the way out from the gymnasium.  
"That's because you are somewhat special to me", she said, distantly. "We've been like a support for each other, and so, I'm used to you..."  
"Great for what I get. I'm nothing but some kind of habit, then", he said, slightly offended.  
"Don't take it like that!", Hazel protested, annoyed. "I need you, because you were there when I was in my worst state"  
"So did you, and I don't call you 'my dear habit'", Alen teased her. "I guess we are condemmed to each other's company in some way or another. I've missed you back on Earth", he said, now seriously.  
"I've also missed you", Hazel said, laying her head over his shoulder while they were walking along some green boulevard outside the gym.  
Alen smiled, knowing that, coming from Hazel's lips, that line was something to remember. Sometimes, she was just like a little girl who needed support and contention. Other times, she was an already grown up lady, a bit too mature and realistic at times. But they were so alike in many aspects, and so complimentary on others...  
"If I had to choose a gym discipline to describe people, I would say that you and me are like the high bar: all of our lives we hang onto something, and we won't let it go at all. We just go on circles, or spinning around it, it doesn't matter the twists we make around it, or if we let it go for a while, because we'll have to grab it anyway. That's the discipline, you have to get hold of it most of the time. With one hand, with both hands, the gymnast has to make revolutions around it, basically. And while you had your parents, I had my sister... we both had an axis in our lives, that was taken away from us. And so, we keep on moving around it, as if we could get it back that way. However, the fall from the high bar when it was taken away from us during the jump did too much damage to us, just as it would do physically if you were to fall down in the middle of your routine. I swear it really hurts"  
"You can easily tell that today", she said, in obvious reference to his fall.  
Alen sighed, embarrased. "What hurt me more was the fact that I had screwed it up, after all that effort, more than the fall per se", he said, annoyed with himself.  
"Wow, a real confession from the perfectionist", Hazel said, chuckling.  
Alen sighed again. "Yes, I know... but it was just so like before, until I went down... literally". After a brief silence, he added, "Everything was fine, and I just happened to recall Melissa..."  
Hazel didn't reply, but continued walking slowly. "I was worried about you", she finally said, softly.  
"I knew... that's why I didn't look at you at that moment, when I fall", he said, taciturnally.  
Hazel glared momentarily at him. "You could at least wave at me... something. I was thinking that something bad had happenned to you"  
Alen smiled lightly at her. "You are always feeling fear at every little thing, Haz"  
"That's... well, completely true, I guess", she said, lowering her head.  
Alen didn't reply this time. He didn't want to hurt her, but the things he could tell her would do so in her fragile state. Until he found out another gym analogy. "Do you know what? You have to find another high bar, and grab it with all your forces... You have to know that it's there, and that no one can take it away from you... No one. If you loose it, it'll be your fault, and no one else's. You have to start taking control of your life once again, without depending on anybody... That's another reason why I didn't stare at you before re-starting my exercise. If I had done that, I would have started feeling guilty and down for the two of us... and I'm sick of doing that".  
Hazel stayed silent, thinking about his words. She didn't have the courage to tell him that she still couldn't take control of her life, because she believed that whatever she did, everything would go down again for some reason or another. She had been fearing that to happen before she learnt that Ares had been the one behind the incident, and now that it happened, she didn't know if she had to pat herself on the back and start studying astrology, or end up with everything for once and for all. Since she couldn't do the latter one, and the first option was just a joke, she had nothing left to think about what to do with her life. She needed more help than what she had expected.  
However, something had to be said, in order to stop Alen talking about the same topic, thing that hurt her much. "I had never thought people could be described perfectly well by some gymnastics routine", she just said, trying to look as natural as she could.  
"Mens sana in corpore sano", Alen said in Latin, recalling the archaic saying. "Guess those guys were right: you get to analyze things better if you practise some sport"  
"I'll have to take up one, then", Hazel said, sighing. "I don't do anything since High School"  
"There are plenty of things that you could do, for example...", Alen started enumerating as they walked along the boulevard, but Hazel's mind was somewhere else.  
If Alen and her were the described by the high bar exercise, her relationship with Ares could be the pommel horse. They just kept on struggling around the same damned topic, no matter what. The rings would be the Bonaparte III incident, which haunted her every time she saw the light haired boy. Or they could be the parallel bars: they shared some circumstances in their life (the tragic death of their parents and only family), but they were in clearly different situations (she hadn't killed anyone). They were in different, parallel streets. They would never have a real point of contact.  
Hazel went on walking silently by Alen's side, who kept on talking enthusiastically about sports. She suspected that he knew that she wasn't really paying attention to him, but she couldn't tell, as he kept on talking eagerly, even smiling at her. She knew that he was a great guy to have around, and even wondered if she could get to love him some time. She wasn't sure he loved her, but she didn't want to let some guy like Alen go away. She didn't want to give him false hopes, and she didn't want to hurt him either.  
She stared at him, and then she realized. He had never told her anything about going out or anything. She was making a fuss for nothing. He was her friend, and that was just what she needed in times like the one she was going through.  
"Now that I think better about it...", Alen said, thoughtfully. "You and me are just like jumping the vault... ", he said, going on with the gymnastic metaphores. "I mean... there's something in our way, we jump it... and make a real fuss of that thing, doing twists and sammersaults in the air, trying to fall down on our feet..."

* * *

Author's notes:  
Hi there! I hope you have enjoyed this "what the Hell's going on?" chapter! Well... I just felt the need to introduce some characters' pasts in the fic, and, during the 2008 Olympics I thought that it would be something strange to mix sports and Literature... and this is what it came of that strange mix. I also tried to do give more attention to some cannon characters, but I don't think I've succeded in making a good plot for them, with the little information that the game gaves us. All in all... I'm quite satisfied with this chapter, even if it could be a completely "optional" chapter (I bet that there will be people that will say something like "why didn't you say it before?!?". Oh, well... sorry for those folks!)  
I wanted to match the gym disciplines with the characters, trying to make some subtle, indirect (or maybe too direct) connections. The brief descriptions of every routine in italics are edited from the wikipedia entry for "gymnastics".  
I tried to do my best while writing this chapter and while editing it, but if you see any typos or odd grammar choices and usages, don't hesitate to point it out, either by a review, or by PM. I would really want those to be pointed out, since this is the first chapter I've written in almost two years (mmhh... nope, it's the second, but I found this one more troublesome than the other one)  
Take care! 


	23. Doorstep to Hell

Chapter 23: Doorstep to Hell

Amante sighed, irritated. She had been thinking about it and she knew she had no way out. BAHRAM was in its worst situation since the Aumann incident. She had no personel on the base, and the unmanned units weren't enough to face both BIS and the UNSF. And now, she just had Mikenne as her most skilled runner. Marrek would go to the battlefield, because they were lacking people, and because she knew he would do anything to impress her. She knew well that kind of jerks, they were so annoying, but she would have to make use of him, so she was happy that he was like that, on a way. If he had been like Ethan she would be in a much terrible situation.  
Talking about the Earthling spy... She had always thought that something was wrong about him. He was an interesting guy, physically, but he had such a bad temper. And, for her, he always acted oddly. It was clear that he had something between hands, or something under his sleeve, but she thought he wouldn't have the guts to be a spy. He had battled well against them, remorsessly. Now, she had to congratulate herself for her great intuition. The fact that he had escaped like a rat just confirmed her suspicion.  
Thing that recalled her of Mikenne. Now... what was going through that girl's mind? She must have helped Ethan to escape, there was no other way out. She was the last one that talked to him, and one of the fews that knew what she thought of him. Something had to be wrong, because Mikenne never dared to talk a word against her orders. It was great to work with her because she never complained about anything, and the work got done. But if she was trying to rebel, she would have to wait for some other time.  
Amante knew that she hadn't punished Mikenne in any way because she was the only worthy person she had available there, if not in the entire remnants of BAHRAM. She would have to let her go this time, but she would keep an eye on her, just in case. But, on the other hand, she knew it was quite improbable that she would try to rebel. She had nothing outside BAHRAM.  
Another thing that was troubling her was that useless Marrek. Even if he was mad about her, and that would do anything she said, it was more trouble than what he was worth. However, Amante decided that he would have to go to the battlefield, even if he had been banned from it after an overload of Metatron radiation on his body. He would loose control of himself, or would start attacking his own side for the sake of fighting. But she was short on people, so she would have to take the risk. Besides, if he was to die in the battle, after getting rid of some people, it would be like a relief to her. She would have two problems less over her shoulders: a couple of enemies less, and Marrek gone, finally.  
Then, she would have to go. That made at least three human-controlled units (even if one was directed by a green-haired jerk), so... the thrill of being once again at the battlefield with her precious Scarmiglione made her smile.  
However, they were still few. She would have to find a way out that she hadn't considered, as she had left it behind before, knowing that it was quite sure that nothing would come out of it. However, she would have to try before desestimating the idea entirely.  


* * *

  
Ethan knelt down at the newly prepared tomb at the cemetery and laid some flowers on it. He said a prayer for Ruth's eternal and peaceful rest, something that she deserved. Only that he had wished she would have found that peace while still being alive.  
After the prayer, he stared at the tomb, silently. He had had some troubles to bury her on Earth, but it was worth it. She would lie in her real planet, near their father, and their mother could visit her more frequently rather than if he decided to leave her at the barren, distant Martian land. Besides, he would feel he would betray her if he did so, because she wanted to run away from all that, and leaving her in Mars would be like abandoning her in enemy territory.  
He sighed. He knew that the job wasn't entirely done. Ruth wasn't completely in peace. Her murderer still had to pay.  
"I know that you would still defend him, just to make me angry", he said, trying to chat with her as if she were alive and ready to answer him back at any time. "But I won't let him go away without paying for what he had done to you. Because he was the one who killed you, not someone from BIS, much to your dissappointment"  
He stayed silent, as if he was waiting her protests. He still couldn't really get the fact that she was gone for good. "I know... I know you already knew that", he said, just to fill the empty space and to not feel so lonely. "Just... just wait and see. I'll make him suffer in a way that he'll be begging your pardon as if you were some implacable Goddess. Sadly, I'll have to do it all on my own, because Earth considers you a traitor, and they don't even like the idea of avenging you to finally set their feet on Mars. Can you believe how stupid they are? They have a free, fantastic excuse and they want to find another one, less realistic. Because... who would have investigated you to find out that you had left the Earth forces and joined BAHRAM? The fact that you were a girl, and that you were killed by Martians would have bought the entire public opinion at once..."  
He sighed. He knew he was acting a bit strange, and that Ruth would have knocked him down, or would have thrown something at him if she was alive. "I know, you would be thinking that I'm treating you like an idiot... I feel like that, because I couldn't help you. And now, the only thing I can do is chat with this piece of stone, while I think of an idealized image of you, Ruthee", he explained loudly, thankful that there were no other people around that line of tombstones. "An image that won't mind me calling her Ruthee, just as when we were kids. The real you would empty a gun on my stomach if I did so now, that we are grown-ups"  
Ethan sighed again, bitterly. Being a grown-up doesn't make you more intelligent that when you were a kid, he thought. He recalled that they had clearer 'warning shots' at things that could be dangerous when they were children, and that many others shared that "temporary sixth sense". They had already lost that long time ago. Or else, they would have suspected that nothing good could come from joining the Army, even if their father had been there. Or that that battle where Ruth told him her idea of escaping started odd and ended worse. Now, look where they were: one, six feet under. The other: feeling more dead than alive, as a part of himself was gone.  
He stayed a little more by her side, and then he left, already thinking in the preparations he still had to do to finally avenge his sister.  


* * *

  
A high-pitched cry filled the Saoshyant. Before anyone could wonder what was wrong, Myona came running into the main room, scared. "Is it just me, or someone brought the Nerokerubina from NUT's Labs?", she asked nervously. "Or I'm just seeing things?"  
Robin smiled bitterly, as if she was expecting that kind of reaction. "Well... with all this new scenario in front of us, I thought it would be better to grab that frame and bring it with us. You can't really tell who's on your side and who's not, and I was fearful that somebody may attempt to sell it, or that either BAHRAM or Earth would try to get their hands on it, so... that's why it's here", she said, sipping some coffee. "I took the decision out of the blue, so that's why I hadn't commented it yet. Twede has just brought it"  
"I... see", Myona said, trying to come up at good terms with their new "companion". "I'll be at my room if you need me", she said, before disappearing.  
"Alright", Robin said, as she kept on trying to find some interesting article in some magazine. Even if she was used to all the cell-phone and online magazines and newspapers, she enjoyed a real, printed magazine more.  
"Robin, we have an incoming video communication from BAHRAM", Twede said, interrupting her little break.  
"What?", she asked, pushing the magazine away. "Wait, I'll call Mebius and Warren before accepting it", she said, and left the main room running quickly. In a matter of seconds, she returned, with the blonde woman and the usually silent man following her, worried. "Alright, Twede, accept it", she said, throwing herself on the chair, nervously.  
The black screen showed Amante's figure, standing alone in some room at some BAHRAM base. She hadn't changed since the last time they saw her, almost three years ago. Mebius would say that she saw like some darkness in her eyes, but it could be either that she was just imagining that -as she knew she was evil, even if that kind of statement could sound childish- or a video reception failure.  
"It's been a long time!", Amante said, greeting them. "I would say that you hadn't changed at all", she added, trying to sound nice without making too many efforts to sound convincing.  
"Indeed... let's go straight to the subject", Robin said, coldly.  
Amante moaned, and it sounded like a cat's meow. "You are no fun. I try to be friendly to you, and you receive me like this... what a shame!"  
"It's just that... well, we don't trust you. At all", Warren said, while Robin rolled her eyes, irritated.  
"Alright, I'll go straight to the point, as you want", the red-haired said, annoyed. "I want to propose you an union. We both want Earth and the UNSF outside our planet, so why can't we fight along each other, in the name of the Martian freedom? We may have had some differences in the past, but now... we are in the same boat"  
"And then, if we defeat the UNSF, you'll kill us, so you can try to control Mars and oppose Earth again, uh?", Robin shouted, angrily. "You are short of supplies, runners and frames, so you would do a great business if you decide to join forces with us to then get rid of us!"  
Amante frowned, defeated. So, that white-haired idiot found out what she was planning. Things had to be quite in the bad side for her, as she got found out that easily. She moaned, irritated. Glaring at her, she finally said, "Alright, see it that way if you want. Just don't start crying and begging an alliance when the UNSF finds you. Thing that will happen in no time, because if we are going down, you'll come with us! And I guess I rather prefer to destroy you myself...", she said, smiling. "See you soon, then", she said, closing the video link right after that.  
Robin sat down, exhausted. Even if the chat lasted just for a couple of minutes, it made her feel really bad. She had just signed their death-sentence, metaphorically speaking... for now. She knew that Amante would do anything to destroy them now. "I guess I have to apologize for deciding this all by myself...", she said, sighing.  
Warren arched an eyebrow. "You have to be kidding. We wouldn't join forces with her, even if they were the only people in the Universe that could help us"  
"Deckson would have never do it", Mebius said, recalling the first leader and founder of BIS. "You did the right thing"  
Robin smiled lightly at the last statement. Realizing that she had acted like Deckson would have done if he was alive made her feel somewhat relieved. "Thanks. Now... I'll have to tell the youths about this", she said, worried.  
"Robin, you can't think that you can't cope with this now", Twede said, suddenly. "We've been through worst things, fought against stronger enemies... you just can't think that you can't do it"  
She smiled at his secretary, grateful. "Thanks, Twede", she said, softly.  
"You are welcome, but now get ready, that I can't do everything by myself", he said, sort of teasing her.  
Robin smiled at him, as she knew that that last statement, coming from Twede, was something to remember.  


* * *

  
Amante sighed, irritated at Robin's turndown. She knew she wasn't going to get a favorable answer from them, but she had to try. But Amante always got too angry when she had to go through that situations, and she feel the urgent need of humilliating BIS like no one ever did before. No one messed up with Amante Furlair, and no one who made her angry would go away without consequences.  
She knew well what she had to do. Launch an immediate attack. However, that wouldn't do much harm, as she was short on people and BIS would be expecting an attack at any moment (they would be headstrong, but they also knew her movements and reasoning well, much to her anger), mostly sooner than later. She needed some kind of help, and she could only think in Earth's help to get her wish fulfill.  
Of course she wasn't childish to think that her anger was the only reason for attacking BIS. She needed that little force out of the way to attack Earth's forces without any problems (when she could re-organize BAHRAM, not now, of course). And if she "handed them" to Earth, the UNSF would have their guilty party and would punish them, and she would walk away unnoticed. Earth would start building their bases, everything would be peaceful, and she would have plenty of time to make BAHRAM powerful again, and then she would start a surprise-counterattack.  
The ideas run wildly through Amante's mind, as she smiled wickly. She checked BIS's position from a screen, data that she got from the tracker installed on the Nike, perhaps the only good idea that gave Marrek's brain in years. Quickly, she got into another computer, with its IP address blocked, and hacked into one of the UNSFs terminals. She just had to beg that the UNSF hadn't changed their systems much since her time in the Task Force Acemos, where she had been a spy. She left BIS's coordenates and left quickly. Now, she just had to wait to see if the Earth people got the message and understood it.  


* * *

  
"Hey, I feel like some kind of Queen with this escort!", Cynthia said cheerfully, as she laid comfortable on her frame's seat, as she did the patrol with Razma and Yukito. "Or.. I don't know... like some kind of diplomat with my huge, strong and aggresive bodyguards protecting me!"  
"Well, I would have to say that they have ripped you off!", Yukito laughed at her ideas. "We may try to protect you, but I can't assure you we'll succed!"  
"You should hire Semyl for that matter", Razma chuckled at his own joke.  
"Poor Sem!", Cynthia protested, but she smiled at the joke. "If someone who doesn't know her listens to you, he or she would think that she's a complete tomboy!"  
"Isn't she one?", the red-haired guy asked, entertained with the whole subject.  
"Well... she may have one or two aspects... I don't know... I wouldn't call her a 'tomboy'. For me, it's just Semyl!", the student explained, shrugging.  
"Quite a way to define a person", Yukito stated.  
"Better than nothing, I guess", Cynthia replied, smiling.  
"Any other way to define her, Razma?", Yukito asked, with a not so hidden second intention, as he was quite sure that the two fire-haired youths would end up together. It was just a matter of time.  
"Why do you ask me?", Razma protested, catching his intentions. "What do you think of her, for example?"  
"Well, I'll have to agree with Cynthia: she's unique, so she's Semyl"  
"Then, I think I'll agree with you two"  
"No, you have to say something else. He said she was unique, I said she was Semyl... you have to say something else!", Cynthia joined the teasing, funnily.  
Razma glared at them for a second, then he let go a sigh. "Well... she is... Semyl is..."  
A video link opened up in each frame's system out of the blue, and Robin appeared in the screen, interrumpting their chat and calling ther attention greatly.  
"Robin, what's up?", Razma asked, sort of glad that she had interrupted that torturing little game. On the other hand, seeing Robin's worried looks was a bad signal.  
"Bad news, guys", the BIS leader said, worried. "BAHRAM's coming to our attack, and I think it's just a matter of time until the UNSF pops up"  
"Shit", Cynthia whispered, annoyed.  
"And why do they plan to attack us now?", Yukito asked.  
"They contacted us a short while ago. They wanted us to join them against Earth, thing that we declined"  
"Obviously"  
"And so, they prefer to take us down... even if that means to battle against the UNSF at the same time"  
"They think they can escape and accuse us of everything, right?", Razma asked, annoyed.  
"I don't know what Amante's thinking, I just know that this will be quite a Hell of a battle", the white haired leader said, worried. "I just hope this will be over soon... I just can't get an image of all the terrible ideas that may arise in Amante's head if the conflict goes on for longer and longer"  
"I don't know who is this Amante... but apparently she's quite...troublesome?", Cynthia asked, thinking that she had to say something.  
"Oh, I'm sorry... I forgot you weren't around at that time... We'll tell her later about her, 'kay?", Robin apologized to the student. "I'll get the others together... Do you think you can try to resist them if they appear? I'm pretty sure that they must be in their way here..."  
"We'll do our best, Robin... but try to hurry up", Yukito said, trying to sound less negative than what he was already feeling.  
"I know, guys... I'm already feeling guilty for having you doing the patrol...", Robin said, before she left the conversation to organize the attack at the Saoshyant.  
"Sorry if I sound naive, but why are you saying that she's already coming here?", Cynthia asked. "And why would the UNSF come right now?"  
"Well... I don't think Amante will stay with her arms folded after I decided we had to stay as her enemies, and, lately, the UNSF is showing right when we are fightining each other, so I guess this won't be an exception", Robin explained, before waving good-bye at them.  
Once the com-link closed, Yukito whistled. "Well... we are in quite some trouble. Even if BAHRAM is, obviously, loosing power and weapons, we won't be able to stop them, unless the rest come really soon"  
"They must be in their way...", Razma said, seriously.  
"We don't have much time... if we retreat to the Saoshyant, they will surround us, and will be easier for them to take us down", Yukito analyzed.  
"But we can't battle them with two LEVs and a only-God-knows-how-it-will-react OF!", Cynthia exclaimed, nervously.  
"No... we'll have to do our best as we wait for the others to come", Razma said. "Besides, Robin asked us to stay here... if we could"  
"We can try to hide behind some hills and launch long-rage attacks".  
"That will have to do until the others arrive"  
"Wait... I have an idea", Cynthia said, adrenaline flowing wildly through her veins. "If I jump off this thing... will I instantly die?"  
"If you hurry and get quickly inside another cockpit or the Blade, I don't think so", Yukito said. "What's on your head?"  
"I want to get rid of this frame while we can get some time before the others arrive", the student said, trying to sound confident, even if she was dead scared about what she was thinking about doing.  
"What?!?", the red haired youth yelled, astonished. "You aren't serious, are you?"  
"Let's face it: this thing has a life on its own, I can't control it, and it just happens to attract BAHRAM for some reason, since my kidnapping", Cynthia explained. "We can't have it, and I won't let them have it. So... I have to destroy it, somehow"  
Yukito and Razma stayed silent, trying to find out if Cynthia's plan was a dangerous masterpiece or a clear death sentence. No one knew well that frame, and the chance of not being able to get out of it after giving the self-destruct order were quite high, especially if she couldn't really control the frame.  
"You'll have to let your guard down, and once its health is very low, you would have to jump from it. Then, either Razma or I would pick you up quickly. And some of us can shoot at it until it explodes", Yukito proposed.  
"And so, with that explosion, we can get some time and try to go to another place, somewhere further from the Saoshyant", Razma added, excited.  
"And then, the real battle, with the rest on stage, will take place", Cynthia concluded, wishing it would end up soon. "I can't wait to get rid of this. It never liked me... and I think I never really liked it, even if I thought at first that it would be really cool to have an OF", she said, resigned.  
"Alright, let's see what comes out of this", Yukito said, trying to remain cool.  
"Just promise me you'll do your best to catch me really soon", Cynthia asked the two guys, softly.  
"You shouldn't even ask that", Razma said. "We are BIS, we are like family"  
Cynthia just smiled, feeling that it was nothing but the plain truth.  


* * *

  
An Earth officer noticed some kind of coordenates popping up in his screen out of the blue. That surprised him, as one could expect, and so, he stood up and started looking for the first superior he could find. The first one that he found was Philip Nor, Colonel Boer's direct subordinate.  
"That some kind of coordenates have appeared in front of your face and you don't know how?", Nor summed up the officer's story, at the nervous nodding of the young man. "Well, let's take a look at it", he said, following the soldier the way to his post. There, he took note of the numbers, and after thinking for a while, Nor said, "If I'm not wrong, this is in the middle of the Martian wasteland. Maybe someone wants to tell us where some rebel base is, or some idiot hacked into the system and left this", he said, as he kept playing with the pen in his fingers, thoughtfully. "Well, let's launch some units there. I don't think it will be harmful. In the worst of cases, some Martians are going to die, but what's wrong with that? If they are rebels they deserve it, and if they aren't... well, their time was over, I guess", he said, turning back and leaving for the base's main room, to tell the other Colonels and Generals the situation.  
No... he would tell them after he launched the attack. That way they would understand that he was a great tactician. After all, he had studied military tactics, and his advice wasn't taken too seriously. He would show them that day that he knew of what he was talking about.  


* * *

  
Hidden behind some Martian mountains, and near BAHRAM's base, Ethan checked his frame's screen. On a wide range, he could see that, apart from the BIS and the BAHRAMs' frames, a group of unidentified units was approaching, slowly but straight to where the others were.  
"Well... looks like I'll deal with the two problems at the same time. Couldn't ask for anything more", he said, as he started its way to the battlefield, with the firm resolution of avenging his sister there, or joining her that very day.  


* * *

Cynthia, Razma and Yukito were doing their best against the unmanned BAHRAM units, but it was starting to get troublesome for them to attack without supplies and back-ups. They all knew too well that this was nothing but the warming up, since Amante, Mikenne and Marrek were present in battle.  
"Hey, what's that?", Cynthia asked when she noticed a new light shining in her radar.  
"We are... fucked up", Yukito just said.  
"Either BAHRAM's reinforcements are coming, or it is the UNSF", Razma translated Yukito's line.  
"Then... we are fucked up", Cynthia repeated, shrugging. She started thinking that maybe the time to start her silly action had come. "Hmmm... Razma?"  
"What?", he asked, dodging an enemy attack.  
"I need your help now...", she said, seriously. "It's now or never"  
"Do you really think it's the right moment?", Yukito asked. "It's just one chance"  
Cynthia nodded. "I just hope that the others are close enough... we will be surrounded in no time, I guess...", she said, as the new light blinked more and more closely to their position.  
"Semyl and the others aren't too far away; I've just checked it", Razma confirmed.  
"Alright, let's do it", Yukito said. "Since I'm a bit far from both of you, I'll try to look after you the best I can"  
Just as they had finished their plans, the UNSF forces appeared, firing at everybody. The three BIS units were now surrounded by a whirlpool of metatron beams, laser shots and several attacks from both sides.  
The enemy frames started getting closer to the BIS trio. Even if they had no tactics in common, BIS was the common enemy, and the smaller one. So, it was the easiest one to start with.  
Just then, the rest of BIS appeared, and the battle became confuser.  
The patrol trio could finally sigh relieved, but the rest of the gang was still far, so Cynthia knew what it could be done to buy some time and kill off some enemies, in the same move.  
"Razma, I need you closer", Cynthia said, seriously, with an aura of mystery and determination.  
"Ok, ma'am", the red haired youth said, nodding and already driving his LEV close to her OF.  
"What does that mean?!?", Semyl roared, jealous. However, she couldn't pay much attention to them, as a laser beam had impacted on her LEV, and now she didn't know if she was mad at Razma or at whoever who shot at her.  
"Cynthia... what are you thinking in doing?", Hazel asked, unease.  
"Something stupid, like always... as my dad would say", the student replied, smiling. "Don't worry, Haze. It's the best thing I could do"  
Cynthia put her frame in the eye of the storm, and started firing at the enemy units until she realized that the frame wouldn't resist it much longer. She took a look at its interior for the last time, and she knew she wasn't going to miss that rebel frame at all. Now, she would have a great anecdote to tell to her grandchildren at bed time.  
She took a look at her frame's status. The frame's resistance was dropping quicker and quicker with each second, and she didn't have any time to waste. Razma was already close to her frame, so she just had to open the door of the cockpit and jump off it. Just in case the enemies wouldn't attack the frame after seeing her leaving it, she initialized the self-destruction mechanism. Now she couldn't waste more time inside it.  
However, there was a slight detail: the door wouldn't open. Cynthia tried opening it several times, and she had no luck. She started sweating, terrified.  
"Open, open, I say!!", Cynthia started yelling, desperately. "I don't want to die inside this crap, you fucking pile of useless, damned shit!!", she went on yelling, kicking the cockpit's door as hard as she could.  
With a noise close to a roar that came from nowhere -Cynthia would say that it was the frame's doing, after the battle- the door opened, and Cynthia found herself high over the Martian wasteland. Closing her eyes, she jumped off the frame, and ended up in Razma's arms, who had been all the time close to her frame in case she decided to detonate it. She jumped at the right time, as the frame started shacking, as if it had tried to pull her off it.  
Once Cynthia was inside, Razma drove off the Nike's sight as soon as possible, and they were already out of its reach when the frame exploded. A thick fog covered the area, making it impossible for their enemies to see where the BIS patrol was.  
Cynthia stared at the burning frame concerned, but with a strange mix of feelings inside. "It's nice to see it dissappearing", she whispered, distant. "It never liked me, and I think I never liked it, actually. I know that it should have had a better destiny, but... well, it served its purpose"  
"Hey, it's saving our butt right now, so I guess that's a good destiny", Yukito replied. "What's more, your strategy was great: the rest had already arrived"  
"Yes, you are right at that", the student said thoughtfully. But her thoughtful state lasted little, as she asked, scandalized, "Is it just me, or did that damned frame tried to push me?"  
"It looked like that, if you want my opinion", Razma said, driving away from the burning frame.  
Right behind them, the remaining BIS members arrived just in time to cope with the upcoming UNSF forces that were visible a few metres away from them.  
"I'll take her back to the Saoshyant", Razma said, as Cynthia tried to find some room for her in the LEV's cockpit. "We can't share this tiny space"  
"I agree, completely", Cynthia said, as she tried to sat down without falling over Razma.  
"Don't even try something there!!", Semyl shouted, glaring at him.  
Razma rolled his eyes. "I can't move here, so I can't do anything... even if I wanted", he said, chuckling.  
"You!!!", the red-haired girl shouted, angrier.  
"Cynthia, are you alright?", Hazel shouted desperately, eager to listen to her cousin's voice.  
"I'm fine, Haz", she said, smiling.  
"I hate you so much when you do things like that!", Hazel yelled at her angrily, while she tried to turn down some enemy frames from afar while preaching her cousin. "You always do stupid things like that, and make the others worry a lot about you! You should grow up someday!"  
Cynthia sighed, annoyed. "Stop talking like that, that I have my father for that kind of preaching. What's more, you should thank me right now, as I saved you all a little while ago... I don't know if you recall it or not"  
"She has a point there", Warren said in her behalf, even if defending the small troublemaker of Cynthia was against his normal behavior. "If she hadn't detonated her frame, the three of them would be dead, most likely"  
"Aha! Take that!", Cynthia yelled proudly, extending her arm quickly, pointing ahead.  
"Ouch!", moaned Razma, as Cynthia's victory pose had just hit him hard on the head.  
"However, Hazel is right", Mebius said, on Hazel's side. "Hazel was worried about Cynthia, as she really cares for her, and I think she wouldn't forgive herself if something ever happened to Cynthia", she explained, while attacking some unmanned BAHRAM units.  
"Now I should say 'take that!'", Hazel teased her cousin, smiling proudly.  
"Yeah, yeah, what you say", Cynthia said, sighing. "I'm almost back at the Saoshyant and I have to jump once again, so I can't pay attention to you right now. See ya!", she said, waving at them.  
"Run away, little rat", Hazel teased her, while impaling an unmanned Scarmiglione unit with all her strenght.  
Myona, as she saw the winged frame burning down, felt that she couldn't stay in the Saoshyant with her arms folded. She had to do something, her friends were fighting with a frame less, even if the explosion gave them some fresh air to counter-attack. She had to find a way to be with them...  
Suddenly, she recalled it. It was an insane idea, but... it was the only thing she could do. Besides, now there were less risks to take than before, she thought. She started running to the hangar.  
"Myona, where are you going?!?", Cage yelled, nervously, who had seen her disappear from the screen that showed the Saoshyant's main room.  
"I'll be back right now", his purplish haired sweetheart just said, before she left the main room of the Saoshyant, as she run towards the hangar. She paid little to no attention to her surroundings, and almost knocked over Cynthia when she appeared from the hangar, after her return from her already gone, yet still burning frame.  
"What's wrong?", Cynthia asked, surprised of Myona's reaction.  
"Nothing", Myona shouted back, but she was already too far to be heard.  
Cynthia shrugged and got into the main room, where Twede, Arantxa and Lia where. "Well... guess I'm back", she said, shrugging.  
"Great to see you still alive and well", Arantxa greeted her, as she hold Lia in her arms. "Must have been a terrific sight from that high"  
"You can't have an idea about how much I loved it being there in the air", Cynthia replied sarcastically, hating the black-haired girl a little more than what she already did.  
"Good for you that you are alright; too bad that we lost a frame", Twede said, with his eyes and attention fixed to the screen.  
"Hey, I'm also grateful and enormously happy to see you again", the student replied, sighing. She walked to one of the chairs and remained there, staring at the fight.  
It was a completely different thing seeing the battle from the comfort of the Saoshyant, safe from all the bullets and Metatron beams that surrounded her when she was onboard the now gone Nike. From the Nike, everything looked exciting and dangerous, and one couldn't guess what was to come. From the Saoshyant, it looked like a big, well-planned choreography, even if it looked messy at times.  
Twede started switching his video links with each member of BIS, and some other unknown people started appearing as he tried to connect with his mates. Earthian pilots and unmanned cockpits started appearing in front of them, as Twede switched cameras quickly, as he would do when tunning up the radio, going through the different stations.  
Then, Mikenne's face appeared on the screen.  
A gasp could be heard at the Saoshyant.  
Arantxa nearly screamed terrified when she saw the red-haired woman at the screen.  
"What's wrong?", Cynthia asked her, noticing her behavior.  
"Nothing", she lied, touched.  
"Are you sure?", Cynthia insisted, not believing her answer.  
"I'm fine, I don't know her", Arantxa replied, quickly. "Haven't seen her in my life"  
Cynthia shrugged and turned back, decided to help Twede in some form or another, as she was now eager to be helpful in some way.  
Arantxa stayed silent, looking at the screen, for a while, until she couldn't bear it anymore. That woman... that woman had been in BAHRAM during her time as a BAHRAM spy. She hadn't talked to her, but she had seen her around those dark offices where she and her friend had been taken after being caught doing nothing wrong. She must have had something to do with her friend's dissappearance. She must have...  
And for the first time in years, a lone tear fall from her dark brown eyes.  


* * *

  
"What does this mean?", Colonel Boer roamed as he got into the main room and saw everyone engaged in a battle.  
"We've got a set of coordenates, and I've decided to launch an attack. Should be enough to end with these rebels", Nor said, emotionless.  
"Ok, in that case, why haven't you called me?", the older man roared, furiously. "I'm the one who gives the orders here!"  
"I thought it would do no harm", Nor replied, strongly. "The rebels' forces are getting weaker each day, so I thought that I could handle this..."  
"You better get a good result out of this if you want to stay here", the Colonel adviced him.  
Nor smiled, as if he knew that Victory was on his side.  


* * *

  
Myona stared at the giant, monstrous Metatron frame she had in front of her eyes. Oddly enough, it was as if the giant head, bodiless frame was waiting for her, knowing that it would only be a matter of time until she returned to it.  
The purple haired girl shook her head, shocked. This wasn't what she wanted for her, but if she wanted to help her friends, she had no way out but the one she was about to take.  
A cold chill run through her spine, as she climbed to the Nerokerubina's cockpit. Once inside, she made a little prayer, as it closed behind her and started its circuits on its own. She knew she was risking too much by getting into the frame, but Cage and the others needed her. They took too many risks before to save her in the past. Now, it was her turn to do something for them.  


* * *

  
Back at the battlefield, Ethan had decided that it was time to finally avenge his sister's death. He appeared, for everyone there, out of nowhere. After watching most of the battle from behind a hill, when Marrek's Minotaur-ish frame was close to him, he left his hiding place, and starting firing at it. But he also started firing against the UNSF forces, and, in last place, BIS. He was a lone soldier against everything and everyone... something that predicted a wrong future for him. But he didn't care. He had to avenge Ruth, and he had to ruin all those people that had given their backs to him somehow.  
"Just what the Hell is he doing?", Amante asked, annoyed. "Wasn't he suppossed to be an Earthling spy?", she asked, annoyed. "He's attacking both parties!"  
"He's just disappointed at everything", Mikenne mumbled. Even if she was saddened at his behavior, she could understand him well, after all. If only she could feel like that... she didn't know what dissapointment was, as she had never expected much of life, to begin with.  
Ethan couldn't stop firing. His eyes had a blank expression as he shot his frame's guns. He didn't feel pain, sorrow... not even anger. He had a hollow within himself, and he couldn't fill it, not even attacking his enemies.  
He started charging only against Marrek. Slowly, it became a duel between both of them. No words were said, but they kept on attacking each other. Marrek enjoyed the challenge he had in front of him. Ethan tried to fill his empty self.  
Mikenne stopped fighting, and spent some minutes staring at the duelists. They wouldn't stop, not until one of them died. Ethan was already too fragile, he didn't have much chances of beating Marrek, even with all that anger he felt. She had to do something for him...  
"Ethan, stop it!", Mikenne begged him, as she tried to grab his frame's arms. Looking at it from a distance, the two OFs seemed to be linked to each other. The red Ifrit grabbed the remaining Dioscuri from behind, in a way that perfectly resembled an a worried Mikenne hugging a cold, distant and already departing Ethan.  
"Mikenne, stop getting between us, I warn you!", Ethan just yelled furiously at her. "I won't say it twice, so get away!"  
"No, you have to stop it!", Mikenne yelled. Long, bitter tears were running along her cheecks, damaging her always cold voice. As she cried, she kept on grabbing his frame tighter, just as she would have done if she could hug the troubled runner inside the frame.  
Ethan released himself from her frame's imprisonment, by pushing the red Ifrit backwards, strongly.  
The red Ifrit just flew backwards at a high speed, and ended up hitting its head against some mountains. Mikenne suffered the hit as well, and she fainted.  
Ethan stared at the fallen frame for a second, coldly. "I warned you, Mikenne... you just didn't want to hear, like always", he whispered, bittterly.  
There was no answer from the Ifrit.  


* * *

A giant, bodiless Orbital Frame appeared in the battlefield, intimidating the three parties' involved. The UNSF wasn't aware of the upcoming frame, but both BIS and BAHRAM had their reasons to fear it.  
"Shit!", Twede exclaimed, his blood frozen. "How I didn't realize what she was about to do? How I didn't realize that the hangar's doors were opened at one point?"  
"Hey, do you had that nifty thing hidden and you didn't tell me anything about it?", Amante asked Marrek, as he was in charge of the base.  
"No... I wish we had it, but no...", he answered, amazed at the sight of that bodiless frame.  
"Then... it's BIS...", Amante said. Even if she tried to act naturally, she was worried, as she couldn't understand how they got their hands on that OF. After all, it was the Nerokerubina, Zephyrs' frame.  
"Myona, what the Hell are you doing inside that thing??", Ares yelled at her, furious. "It's too dangerous for you here, especially on that thing!"  
"I know, but I can't stay behind with my arms folded, staring how you do all the work!", his sister yelled, determined.  
"She's stubborn...", Semyl said, concerned.  
"No surprise she's my sister", Ares sighed.  
"Yes... but that doesn't mean that she has to be suicidal!", Semyl whined, worried about her friend's fate on the battlefield.  
"Myona, get back to the Saoshyant!", Cage pleaded her, energically. "Remember that you can get out very injured from this!", he tried to convince her, without saying that BAHRAM had the ability to activate the MindFlow System in their frames. It wasn't time to be giving away ideas to the enemy.  
Myona shuddered. That was something she hadn't taken into account when she decided to get into the frame. Now, it was too late to escape. "I... that's a risk I have to take!", she replied him.  
"Why are you so worried about her?", Cynthia asked, back at the Saoshyant. She was a bit surprised about everyone's escanadalized reaction towards Myona being at the battlefield. "It's not the first time she's on the battlefield"  
"It's a long story...", Twede replied in haste. "I just hope you won't have to see it right now", he said, busy, checking everyone's status and systems.  
"I just hope that someone could explain that story to me, sometime", the student whispered, resigned.

* * *

  
Marrek smiled when he saw Mikenne's frame laying on the ground. A madman-like smile arose in his lips, and he felt overwhelmed with joy. Staring at that tough woman beaten down was like revenge to him, as she always ignored him and look down at him.  
Now, he was about to make her accomplish all his wishes... his military ones. He just wished that he could have a "pocket MindFlow system" that could control Mikenne's life. Oh, well, he'll have to take advantage of the little power he had...

* * *

  
Mikenne opened her eyes once again. At first, she didn't have the slightest clue about where she was. Her head was just a spinning thing over her shoulders. Then, even if the headache hurted too much, she realized where she was, after all.  
She tried to control her frame again quickly, as she recalled what had happened before she lost consciousness. Ethan. He was acting like a madman, desperately. He kept on attacking the three parties, blaming each one for Ruth's death. And in part, they were all responsible. He thought that he would avenge her death by attacking them, but he was just digging his own tomb.  
She didn't want that for him. He was signing his own death sentence, if he ever thought of getting alive from that Metatron beams and bullets mess. If Marrek or Amante wouldn't kill him, Earth's officers would. Someone would do it, it just didn't matter who.  
Now, she had the opportunity to prevent him of ruining his life more than what he had already done.  
She had ruin someone's life before. Now, she wouldn't let him ruin his life himself.  
She took a deep breath, and quickly, she made her OF stand. She still felt dizzy inside that Metatron trap, but she had to stop Ethan in some form or another. She tried running next to him, but Marrek, foreseeing this, had another plans for her.  
Some sort of annoying sound started chimming, filling everyone's cockpits. The UNSF officers didn't know what that could be, but the rest of the involved ones remembered that sound really well.  
"Oh, crap", Razma said, sighing. "Is there something else missing? I mean, we have already lived all this", he asked, annoyed.  
"Call it a dejavu", Yukito replied. "Yes, there's something missing: the rocket attack", he said, firing at some UNSF guy that was targeting at him.  
Mikenne shook her head several times, trying to oppose some resistance, but she knew it was useless. Slowly, her head went down, and her arms laid at her sides, and she lost consciusness. In a short while, she raised her head once again, but it wasn't the same Mikenne from the first part of the battle.  
"Wait, Myona is at the Nerokerubina!!", Cage yelled, furiously. "Myona, get out of here!", he yelled, hoping he could save Myona from the MindFlow System's control.  
But it was too late. When Cage looked at his girlfriend's image at the screen, he found a different Myona, one he had never wanted to see again. Her pupils were dilated, and she seemed lost... and far away from them.  
"Ok, babe, start attacking at both BIS and the UNSF, the bad guys!", Marrek's voice yelled wildly, just like a madman. He was enjoying the moment greatly. The Metatron effect on her already overdosed body amplified his natural madness. At a certain point, it wasn't easy to tell who was the mind-controlled one: if the absent and silent Mikenne, or the over-excited and talkative Marrek.  
The mind-controlled Mikenne did what he said. Her lost mind and sight were unaware of what was going on.  
"Oh, shit!", Amante whispered, amazed. "This guy is even more sadistic than what I can be! And that's too much!", she admitted involuntarily. However, she made a mental note to herself to congratulate the green-haired man in his unexpected, yet marvelous decision, an ace under his sleeve.  
If Ethan had been in his usual mood, he would have tried to help Mikenne, or at least he would have felt sorry for her. But he barely noticed her that day. He was just trying to take down as many people as he could, especially his former superior and Ruth's murderer, Marrek Pith.  
"Myona!! Can you hear me??", Cage shouted terrified, fearing for the worst.  
The purplish haired girl didn't reply. Instead, she started firing at him.  
"Myona, stop it!!", the blue haired boy yelled back, anxiously. He couldn't move, he was feeling too much fear and hatred for BAHRAM at that moment to think clearly in anything.  
"Cage, move out!", Warren yelled at him harshly, as he noticed some UNSF missiles coming from afar.  
"What...?", Cage managed to mumble, but when he wanted to realize what was going on, he was already out of the missiles way, as Warren and his Durandal II pushed him away. However, Warren take some damage, as he hadn't been able to fully evade one of the missiles.  
"Warren, are you alright?", Mebius asked concerned, quicker than what she could have ever imagined it.  
Warren coughed, his heart bumping in haste. "I'm fine. I... I couldn't evade it", he said, as he started firing towards the UNSF units in revenge.  
"Just be careful...", Mebius whispered, involuntarily.  
Warren's eyes opened widely, but no one except him knew that, with those big sunglasses he always wore. The blonde haired woman's last statement almost made him loose control of the situation, at least for a second. "I will take that into account", he mumbled, not knowing what to say.  
"Why is she attacking to us?", Hazel asked astonished, as now Myona charged against her.  
"That's one of the results of Zephyrs' experiments on us. Either Myona or me, or that red-haired woman over there, loose our conscience if we are exposed to certain electromagnetic waves in a certain space, and we become effective killing machines", Ares explained coldly, as he charged against Amante's Scarmiglione. "That's why we were so eager of revenge against him".  
Hazel bit her upper lip, ashamed for some reason. Watching the results of Zephyrs' doing in human beings was just... too cruel. How could a human being inflict so much damage and horror upon other human beings? And Myona and Ares were just two subjects that came out alive from his experiments... how many could have been killed during his research? Watching at the inhuman Myona was making Hazel think that the revenge upon that monster was something that had to be done... But she couldn't think that way because, for that revenge, she had lost everything. She lost the light balance she had, and now she couldn't get over her loss, and so, she didn't know what to do with her life. She felt sorry for Ares and Myona... but who would have some kind of consideration towards her? What did her parents to deserve that kind of death like the one they received? And what about Melissa, Alen's sister, and all those unknown people onboard the ship? If Zephyrs himself had been there... maybe she could have even justified it at some extent...  
She shook her head, terrified for thinking that way. She was betraying her parents, by thinking that maybe Ares and Myona (or Vale and Pharsti... Hazel had such a headache just by trying to decide how she should call them) were right about getting some revenge over the man that had screwed up their lives. But what about her now? Did that allow her to go and stabbed both of them to death, just to avenge her parents? She couldn't let things go on as if nothing had ever happenned, but she didn't want to commit the same mistake they did and spoil some other people's lives. She was quite in a tough situation to make up her mind during the battle.  
The souless Myona kept on attacking, unaware that the "bad guys" were in fact her friends. The damage she was inflicting on them was stronger than what they were suffering from both the UNSF and BAHRAM's units. Every time a ghost reappears, the wound opens up again, and the pain is just stronger than the last time one feels it. Ares felt that he could finally understand Hazel for all that hatred she had against him. Hazel's wound had never healed, and learning the fact that he had killed her parents, especially when she was getting attached to him, made her world crumble in front of her eyes for a second time. Now, he was thinking that he deserved to see Myona in that alienated state again, for all the damage he had done to Hazel and so many people.  
Cage, on the other hand, couldn't move. He couldn't believe his eyes. The nightmare he was living was just too painful to be true, and he thought he didn't deserve it. And Myona didn't deserve it at all. She had already gone through all that... Her will and desire of being helpful became her ruin. He wanted to help her so much, but he couldn't move. He just shot back at some Earth units who were attacking him, but as a reflect act, not willingly. He was immersed in a desperate state, trying to help his beloved girlfriend, but without finding a way.  
The rest of the BIS members tried to evade Myona's shots, while trying to reduce the enemies' shots while protecting themselves and Myona, also, as she was also under the attack of the Earthian forces. Mebius, feeling that there had to be some way to awake Myona from her absent state, got nearer the Nerokerubina, without anyone else noticing.  
"Myona, can you hear me?", she said, as motherly as she could be.  
She could see from the video link that Myona didn't react at her words, but kept attacking, coldly, just as a machine. The sight of that absent girl made her soul ache. "Myona, please, say something!!", she pleaded, angstily.  
"Mebius, what are you doing there?", Warren's voice asked, somewhat rudely. "Don't get too close to her, and don't lay your guard down!", he said, already knowing that Mebius wasn't going to retreat from Myona's side.  
"I'll be ok, I just have to do something to help her!"  
"You'll help her more by staying alive rather than by standing there and letting her kill you", Yukito said, concerned. "She doesn't know what she's doing right now, so I bet she would attack you at any time"  
"It's a risk, but I can't leave her alone now", Mebius replied. "Myona, please, honey, put your guns down and return to us"  
Myona didn't listen to her, as she now started firing at some Earthian LEVs.  
"Mebius, I should try to do something for her, not you", Cage said, finally reacting from his inactive state. "Myona, please stop with this!", he yelled, his voice shaking. "Please, Myona, we have already passed through this... Myonaaaa!", he yelled, angstily.  
Right then, Myona turned back to them. Instead of talking, she started firing at them, several times. Mebius, the one that was closest to her, was caught off guard, and she stayed there, petrified, and staring at the Metatron beams that came towards her.  
A cold knock saved her, and when she realized what had happened, she was already out of the Metatron beams line, but Warren had taken them in her place. The blue and greenish Durandal II frame was laying on the ground, knocked down by Myona's attack.  
"Warren!!", Mebius yelled, frightened.  
A soft cough could be heard, and then, nothing.  
"Pops, it's not time for heavy jokes!", Yukito said, trying to tease him, even if he already knew well that Warren wasn't of teasing type. As no one answered, he cursed, and then said, "I'm taking him back to the Saoshyant! I'll be back as soon as I can!"  
With that, Yukito's Justeen grabbed the taller OF and tried to escape, while Mebius tried to protect them from the enemies' attacks, feeling guilty for Warren's fate.  
Ares, on another point of the battlefield, decided to face Amante Furlair all by himself, eager to hear some explanations from her own mouth.  
"Amante, why do you do this??", Ares demanded her, furiously.  
"Oh, honey, calm down", the red haired woman teased him, smiling sarcastically. "I didn't have anything to do with the activation of the MindFlow System... it was all Marrek's doing. I didn't even know that he could activate it from his frame..."  
Ares hated her at that moment. He hated when she acted so innocently, as if she had never known anything more than what she said. But what if is was true? What if it was Marrek's doing on his own? Whatever, he knew that Amante couldn't be trusted. So, he charged a few shots at her.  
"Oh, look at the poor guy... he thinks that firing at me will stop his sister's suffering... how stupid you are!", Amante roared, after a short "I'm so naive" scene. "Looks like that trip on the Iblis damaged your poor brain even more... at the point that you don't know who you have to attack, when you have all the evidence on your hands"  
Ares sighed, annoyed. The worst part is that she was right. Now... what could be Amante's benefit if he started attacking Marrek?  
He decided that he wouldn't spend time thinking about it, but trying to do something to help his sister. Slowly, he moved the Vyaja's to the Minotaur's direction.  
Cage, on the other hand, was still sort of paralyzed. He tried to protect Myona as much as he could, even if the Nerokerubina was firing at him constantly.  
When Ares got closed to Marrek's frame, he couldn't do much but become a watcher of an already started and cruent battle between Marrek and Ethan.  
"You killed her!", Ethan roared, furiously.  
"Maybe I did... maybe not", Marrek said, smiling like a madman. "A lot of Metatron beams were involved that day"  
Ethan fired at him uncountables times, fire after fire. Facing him was getting much tougher and difficult than what he had expected...  
He took a look at his frame's state. He knew he wouldn't last much longer, and still... he had to avenge his sister, he just had to. There had to be a way, Ruth's dead couldn't become an useless death. He hadn't thought of dying on the battlefield, but he would have to reconsider the idea, as Marrek's frame seemed to be in a better shape, while he was coming down.  
He sighed, bitterly. What things could tie him to his life? Ruth was gone. The Earth forces just gave him the back. Mikenne... Mikenne had never been a real part of his life. He would have wanted to, but now it was too late. She told him she didn't feel anything for him. But why had she tryied to be helpful to him, in that case? Deep within him, he regreted having fired at her, and pushing her hard, but he was more interested in his revenge, and not in the bitter cries of a woman that would give him her back when everything turned back to normal. No, Mikenne had never been his, and would never be... he preferred to avenge his sister rather than trying to find out if Mikenne was starting to feel something for him, even if avenging Ruth meant a sure death.  
And so... he had almost nothing that could prevent him from diying. Only the regret that would cause to his mother if he was to die made him feel uncomfortable. It wasn't fair for her to loose her twins in a time-span of less than two months...  
But why was he thinking that negatively? Maybe detonating his frame next to Marrek's one wasn't a sure death. Maybe his cockpit could make use of a self-evacuation device, and he would survive. Scratched, with some bruises, or even with a broken leg, but alive, still. That light-haired boy from BIS -Ares, wasn't it?- claimed to have experienced something similar to what he had just thought. Maybe he could try to finally kill Marrek, avenge Ruth and get alive in the process.  
If he was to survive, then he would have to become a fugitive for the rest of his life. Amante would track him down, and Mikenne, too. She always followed Amante's orders as if they were sacred... or maybe Amante would just play that high-pitched bell and Mikenne would stop being herself, once again.  
Mikenne... He stared at her frame, wondering how it was to suffer of that strange state. Was she really out of herself? Or was she just making it up, just to cover that she was a blood-thirsty, vicious OF runner? Well, that girl from BIS was also acting like a killing machine when she didn't look like that...  
Still... he couldn't really believe in her. Mikenne helped him to escape... but what if it wasn't a part in some bigger plan of hers? What if she was just acting to get something from him, even indirectly?  
He closed his eyes once again, and opened them slowly. Right in front of him, he could see some figures. He started to see someone who looked too much like Ruth, only that the image was smiling, without a hint of worryness in her face. She waved at him, and giggled. It was Ruth, he knew her giggle well... even if the last time she did that they were still on Earth.  
He touched his forehead, thinking that he must be having fever. In fact, he was hoping for that, or else it was a sign that he was becoming mad. Just what he needed.  
His forehead was cool, covered in sweat. No signs of fever, though.  
He sighed, thinking that things couldn't get worse. The Ruth image kept on waving to him, cheerfully. But this time, he could see other images, as soft as if they were ghosts. The ghostly Ruth stopped waving at him, and turned back, running to a figure who was laying on a ground fixing a car.  
Ethan smiled, involuntarily. He had always loved cars, rather than LEVs, planes and space shuttles. If he hadn't taken up the military career, he would have studied to become a mechanic, or some kind of engineer. Now, that wouldn't happen...  
Next to the ethereal Ruth and the figure fixing the car, he could see his parents, both of them. They all looked younger and happier, as if life had always been peaceful. His father looked just like he did when he died, but he also looked younger, in a way. His mother looked cheerful, while chatting with Ruth. Ethan tried to bring some memories back, as he was now sure that his life was passing through his eyes, just like some people say that happens with the drowned people before dieying.  
And then, a red-haired girl appeared, carrying some tools, and knelt down the car, and started talking to the one who was below the car.  
The guy finally came to light, and he could see himself, and the red-haired that was handing him the tools was Mikenne, but not the Mikenne he knew, but a smiling, relaxed version.  
Ethan felt a cold chill running through his body as he kept on staring at his own ghostly version, who looked at him as if he could see him too, smiling like the others, but also with a small hint of defiance in his face.  
Then, he knew. He was taking a look not into the past, but into what could have been.  
He had heard different stories about Metatron's effect on the human mind, but he had never expected to experienced them. He thought that those things happenned to other people. And he knew that Metatron had different ways of approaching the runner... they were too different that he had thought that it was a lie. Until now... Metatron was torturing him once again, by showing him what his life could have been.  
He shouted, angrily, as he shook his head, anxious to get rid of all those smiling faces. When he opened his eyes again, they were all gone.  
He sighed, somewhat relieved, somewhat annoyed, and took a look at the battle and his frame's state. Apparently, while he was in that kind of ghostly trance, he had been attacking Marrek viciously, as he noticed he had inflicted lots of damage on his former superior's frame. His frame, on the other hand, was just as when he last saw it.  
"Well... maybe Metatron wasn't torturing me in vain, I guess", Ethan whispered, slightly grateful to his frame. Then, he knew the moment he was waiting for had come. He had the Minotaur frame close to him, there was no chance to miss that shot. It was then or never.  
Ethan closed his eyes, decided, and launched another attack, even if he knew he could die right there. But nothing mattered if he could drag Marrek with him, thing that he was certain that he could do at that moment.  
The Metatron beams hitted Marrek's frame, but he got the quick reflexes to turn back quickly and fire at his enemy's frame. The mixed beams impacted on their objectives, and both frames started to burn, ending with an explosion, and a huge cloud of fog made impossible to see what had really happened between those two frames.  
As the fog started to disipate, the two frames could be seen, still standing but highly damaged. Metatron sparks and soft lines covered both frames.  
The sound of the explosion made effect on Mikenne, as she woke up from her Mindflow system induced "sleep". She barely understood where she was, but staring at the ball of fire ahead made everything clear, somehow.  
Following her impulses, she rushed to Ethan's frame, and started pulling it from the flames the best she could do. It took her some time, but finally she did it, and left the brownish frame by the side of some hills.  
"Ethan, say something!", Mikenne shouted, still dizzily from the Mindflow system effect. As he didn't answer, she grabbed the frame again and retreated, under Amante's surprised sight, who had to command the retreat and carry Marrek's frame all alone. Amante didn't care much if Marrek was alive or not, but she couldn't leave the frame there, on the battlefield, so she had to carry it.  
On the way, Amante tried to contact Marrek, who answered her weakly. He claimed to be slightly hurt, but that Ethan's actions were going to have big consequences on him, if he was to survive from the explosion. Amante sighed, thinking that bad guys always got away with their proposals.  
Slowly, the BAHRAM units started their retreat, following Amante, and the Earth forces started to do the same. Philip Nor had greatly underestimated the Martian rebels, and so, he had sent few units. Maybe they could try to overcome BIS, but he wouldn't give that order. He had Colonel Boer complaining about his actions behind his back, so he couldn't try anything, even if he wanted.  
The BIS members stared at the leaving units, and each one of them sighed relieved. Now, the only thing that left to do was to return home and take care of Myona, who would have to be dead tired after being exposed to the MindFlow System again.  
"Myona, are you alright?", Cage asked, hoping that she would wake up as Mikenne did.  
No answer came from the Nerokerubina.  
"Myona!!"  


* * *

Author notes:  
I don't know if the scene where Amante decides to give BIS' coordenates is "believable" or not, but hey, this si science-fiction, and I think that this kind of hacking may be available at the 22th century =P  
Evidently, I'm a big fan of tragic cliffhangers... mwahahahaha. Again, I apologize for the "bad" fighting scenes, but as I want to finish this, I'm just writing the best I can do those parts... and I know that I won't write any other action/adventure thingy in my life, that's for sure (who got me into this, but myself? oh, well...).  
One last thing: why do I keep writing this author's notes in every single chapter?? I think I enjoy more writing this little notes rather than the rest of the fic, hahahaha.


	24. Wounded

Chapter 24: "Wounded"

Mikenne stared at Ethan's body at the first aid room, thinking that there had to be a way to help him.  
Presea had told him that he was alive. Dr Harris had said the same, but that he had little chances to survive. Apparently, he was in a comma, and without the correct treatment in the first hours, he could get severe damage. He also said that he could try to find a way to help him... but he saw a mischevious light in the scientist's eyes... and she wasn't going to let that filthy man touch the Earthling... he had already touched her, and things weren't good for her, ever since.  
Right now, he was discussing the details with Amante. Mikenne didn't have much time left, if she wanted to help him. Harris would use Ethan in some experiment if she didn't hurry... in his situation, he wouldn't have much chances to survive whatever Harris wanted to do with him. He already have little chances to do so...  
As she thought about that, Presea came in, carrying some first aid supplies. Mikenne stared at her with her eyes wide-opened, as if the green-haired nurse had become a saviour of sorts.  
"What's wrong with that glance?", the nurse asked, confused.  
"Are you too busy now?", the red-haired woman asked, hopefully.  
"No, actually", Presea replied, smiling. "Since Marrek only got a few scratches during the battle, and the rest of the runners are either fine or dead, I don't have much to do...", she said, shrugging.  
Mikenne glared at her, as she was including Ethan in the "dead people" list, when he still had some chances to live.  
"Alright... then, help me", the red-haired woman ordered, seriously. "I'm taking Ethan to a Hospital, and I need someone who can help me to take him to the hangar. And since you have nothing better to do..."  
Presea bit her tongue, angry with herself for having talked too much. "Alright, it's just taking him to the elevator..."  
"No", Mikenne interrupted her. "There are cameras there... we'll have to go through the stairs"  
"You must be joking! He's too heavy to move! He's uncounscious, we can't take him down to the hangar!", Presea complained. "I mean... he's heavier than normal in this state!"  
"If you don't help me, he'll die... and it'll be your fault!", Mikenne roared, furiously. "If I could do it own my own I wouldn't be here begging for your help, but already on my way to the Hospital! He's not dead yet, even if he looks so... but if we don't hurry he'll be! I have already killed too many people before, I don't want to add anyone else to my list!"  
Presea sighed, as Mikenne knew well what she had been thinking. For her, Ethan was already dead. Or he would die soon, or he would have a long agony on the intensive care area... in her opinion, the best thing they could do was to leave him at ease, he had already suffered much. But seeing Mikenne angry was something... unpleasant, and even frightening...  
"Alright, you have a point... but I don't want to get in any trouble for doing this!!"  
Mikenne smiled lightly, thankful. "You won't. I'll say I have life-threatened you to help me"  
"You'll say the truth, then?", Presea asked sarcastically. "Because you didn't look any friendly"  
"Alright, if you say so, it was so", the red-haired woman said, grabbing a litter. "Now, grab his feet, that I'll grab him from the shoulders"  
"I repeat it: I hope you won't get me into much trouble by helping you with this", Presea said, resigned.  
"Grab him tighter and strongly, I can't do it all by myself", Mikenne just replied her, as they were about to move him to the litter.  


* * *

At BIS, everything was upside down.  
While Robin and Semyl tried to explain to Hazel, Arantxa and Cynthia what had really happened almost two years ago, Twede, alongside Razma and Yukito tried to gather information about BAHRAM and the UNSF whereabouts, just to be sure that they weren't at their back. Mebius carried Lia, while wandering thoughtfully over the ship, but close to the first aid room where Warren was laying uncounsciosly. Ares was just waiting next to the First Aid room where Myona was, and Cage remained by her side, nervously, waiting for her to come up from her sleep.  
"So they have Metatron inside their heads and they can be controlled by someone else under certain conditions?", Cynthia stated, trying to understand the entire insane idea.  
"Putting everything in simple words... yes", Robin said, sighing.  
"So they become puppets at some point?", Arantxa repeated, also puzzled.  
"Aha", Semyl replied.  
The only one that hadn't asked anything yet was Hazel, who remained silent.  
"Everything alright, Hazel?", Robin asked the girl.  
Hazel nodded, silently. "I'm just trying to organize my head", she just replied, coldly.  
And she really needed it. She just felt dizzy at everything. What she had seen at the battlefield was terrible... At some point, she could understand Myona and Ares wanting to take revenge at any cost... But why the Hell did it had to be against the spaceship that her parents had boarded? Her selfish side was arising. She was starting to see things in a way she hated, in a "it's fine while you don't mess with me or my beloved ones" side. She had criticized that line of thoughts much, and she was falling into it right now. It was a hideous thing what they had done, it didn't matter that they did it against her or not. But, on the other hand, they had never had anyone to help them, to comfort them after all that hurt that had been inflicted on them...  
She didn't want to justify them, but after having seen Myona in that shape... it was starting to be difficult...  
Meanwhile, at the first aid room, Cage was expecting anxiously for Myona to wake up. He wanted her to finally open her purple eyes and to be sure that the hyperalignement was over, and that it didn't leave any consequences on her. He had been there since he got her from the Nerokerubina, and wasn't going to leave his site by her side.  
Finally, after so many hours, Myona started moving. Cage left his hand near hers, nervously and anxious.  
"Cage...", Myona mumbled weakly, opening her eyes slightly.  
"Shhsss... everything's alright... I'm here", the blue-haired boy said, happy to see his sweetheart awakening.  
Myona looked for his hand and grabbed it tightly, thankful that he had been there all the time. She didn't need to ask him, because she already knew that he had been sitting next to her all that time. The desperation that Cage's voice hinted was enough to make her clear that he had been there.  
"Everything will be alright, dear...", he whispered her, with tears in his eyes. "How are you feeling?"  
"I'm a bit dizzy... my head hurts...", she said, weakly. "I never thought I would go under those circumstances again..."  
"You shouldn't have gotten into the Nerokerubina", he nagged her, seriously.  
Myona sighed. "I know... but I wanted to help you... I couldn't stay here, just waiting for all of you to return, in one piece or not"  
"Yes, I know... but you know you shouldn't get into one of this things..."  
"But I just had to!", the purplish-haired girl protested.  
Cage sighed. It was no use to argue with her about her actions. She was sure that she had done the right thing. She was as stubborn as his brother, after all. "Promise me you won't do anything as risky or stupid as what you did today"  
"I...", she hesitated, as she wasn't going to stay back if he, and their friends, needed her help.  
"Promise me!"  
Myona sighed, annoyed, yet proud of her boyfriend. He was starting to show his tough character, one that he evidently had sleeping within him.  
"I promise...", she said, weakly.  
They stayed silent for a while, looking lovingly at each other. After a while, Myona felt more sleeply, but she still wanted to talk.  
"Cage... I don't want to go through this anymore", she said, faintly.  
Cage sighed, angsted. "I promise you that, when all this ends, we'll get out from here... Mars isn't a suitable place for us to live", Cage said, hugging his girlfriend, sweetly.  
"But... I don't really want to leave"  
"I know, I also want to stay more with the rest of the gang, but... look at yourself right now...", he said, in tears.  
She managed to move her hand sweetly to his cheeck, and wiped out his tears, smiling. "I know... On the other hand, when we decided to come, we took this more than a visit rather than actually staying"  
Cage smiled. She was right. They weren't planning on staying, but they had the perfect timing to arrive when a new conflict was arising, without any of them knowing it.  
"You are right", he said. "This was a holiday, not a permanent return"  
"Do you think they'll get angry at us?", she whispered.  
"No... they'll surely understand", he said, smiling confidently. "Now, let me tell your brother you are fine, or we'll be both staying on the same bed", he joked, thinking that Ares would surely hit him hard if he kept on hiding him that Myona was alright.  
In a matter of seconds, Ares rushed to his sister's side, and stared at her, worried, yet happy.  
"I wonder why are you so stubborn, when nobody else in the family behaves like that", the light haired youth said, trying to cheer her up.  
Myona smiled, weakly. "Do you think that we are already more stubborn than our parents?"  
Ares whistled. "By far... but you are following my steps, and that's not good. So, I would be really proud of you if you tried hard to stop this stubborn family heritage"  
Myona smiled again, but this time something was hurting her. She tried her best to stay quiet and calm, but she had moaned before.  
"What's wrong?", her brother asked her, worried.  
"It's nothing", she said, trying to sound calm. "My body hurts... it must be product of the hyperalignement... I've already forgotten about it"  
"Do you want us to take you to the Hospital?", Ares proposed. "They already know me, so there's a chance we can get a great room and some eager to treat you physicians there..."  
"No, I'm fine...", she turned down, now talking stronger than before. "Besides... I don't want any physician nor scientist to analyze me as if I were a monster... at least, for the time being"  
Ares smiled as he nodded. "Alright... I'll do what you want", he said, confidently. There was no use to bring up more hideous memories. The hyperalignement had just been enough. "I'll let you sleep then, sis"  
"I'll also leave you alone for a while, honey", Cage said, kissing her on the forehead.  
"Thanks... I think I'll have a good sleep"  
"You should, it will make you feel much better", Ares said, smiling.  
"See you, honey", Cage said, waving at her.  
"Shouldn't you stay with her?", Ares asked Cage, surprised that his friend wouldn't stay by his sister's side.  
"It's alright, brother", Myona said, sweetly. "He has already been all the time by my side since we have arrived... and you must have been waiting next to the door... so I think I can sleep safe, as you'll still remain worried about me"  
Ares blushed. His sister had just guessed what he had done all that time she had been unconsciously.  
"I have two great guardians... there's nothing to worry about", she teased them, smiling.  
The boys chuckled, but they still remained slightly embarrassed. There was nothing wrong about worrying about Myona, but neither of them wanted to be exposed in front of the the other.  
"Sorry, Ares... I haven't been a good boyfriend to Myona", Cage apologized, hurt, once they had walked a few metres from Myona's room.  
Ares looked at him, puzzled. "Why do you say that? You did a great job..."  
"You know I didn't!", Cage protested, annoyed. "If I had known how to take care of her, this wouldn't have happened!"  
"Cage, stop blaming yourself! She would have gotten into the frame anyway, no matter what!"  
Cage doubted his friend's statement. If he had been stronger, Myona wouldn't have felt the need to come to his rescue. Because that was the truth. She couldn't stay behind, watching how he couldn't pilot a frame. He had already run an OF... but he had had such big help at that moment, with Pharsti. Now Myona was right in fearing that he wouldn't be able to control the situation. She knew him better than himself, after all.  
"Cage... I know that this situation is just too difficult and painful for anyone, but it's not the time to take the blame. You have to remain strong, for yourself and for my sister. But especially for yourself. You know you can't fully depend on others... I know that you may still think that the Will is Testament, as they are way too similar... but it's time for you to realize that this time Pharsti's not around to save you. Right now, you have your strength... and my sister's love. That should be enough..."  
Cage sighed. Ares could be right, but he still felt he wasn't the man Myona needed by her side. Ares, even if he had done hideous things in the past, did things according to his will and reasoning, while he still doubted too many times before doing anything. He was still too soft for everything, even if his trips along the Universe with Myona had helped him to develop his personality.  
Now, he felt that things couldn't go on as if nothing had ever happened. The folks at BAHRAM had to pay, in some way or another, for what they had done to Myona. They didn't have the right to mess with her life as if she was a puppet...  
He had many ideas in his head, and he needed time to think and organize himself. He didn't feel like talking to Ares. This was something that he needed to do on his own. Ares, as much as he was his friend and he still admired him, would come up with another solution, or would influence his final resolution. Cage didn't need that at that moment, he needed to find his path on his own.  
"Thanks, Ares, but I still think I'm not as good as you", Cage said, annoyed.  
"Hey... that thing I said was something to cheer you up the seconds before my death... You don't have to... better said, you mustn't become what I am... I'm just a human being with more flaws than good things...", Ares said, taciturnally.  
"Still, you can freely choose and act acording your own will"  
Ares stopped walking and faced Cage, seriously. "If I could have come up with good choices, then that would mean something"  
"At least, you can live accepting the consequences of what you had done"  
Ares sighed. "Guess you are right... but I'm not happy with it, and I also wish I could be much better..."  
They kept on walking together for some more metres, then Ares went on walking to the hangar, after waving at Cage and advicing him to take a relaxing nap. Cage agreed, but he was still annoyed with himself.  
"Still, I'm not the man Myona deserves", he thought bitterly, as he got into his room.  


* * *

Mikenne tried to carry Ethan the best she could, while Presea was barely of any help, as she seemed more interested in not damaging her nails rather than helping the red-haired girl carrying the uncounscious guy.  
When they were in the hangar, Mikenne felt a cold chill running through her spine. She started having some bad feelings about the entire stuation. Something had to go wrong, as carrying Ethan to take him to the Hospital was being too easy, at least until that moment. However, they still had a long way to go, as they had to take Ethan down the stairs to the hangar's floor, and place him inside some civilian LEV to take him to the Hospital. It could have been much easier if they had taken the elevator, as Presea suggested Mikenne several times, but the red-haired woman declined, as she knew that the elevators had cameras. If they walked the long way, they wouldn't be spotted so easily, as not all the corridors had cameras, or some were broken.  
Now, they were at the hangar's higher level, from where they got into the frames and taller LEVs. A long path of stairs were ahead, and Presea continued complaining about Mikenne's plan.  
Mikenne, for some reason, felt reluctant to walk past the Minotaur, Marrek's frame, but she didn't have any other way round to reach the last set of stairs. She tried to evade those feelings quickly. She had never had premonitions before, so why would she have one right at that moment?  
She walked faster, as if doing so would make her feel sure that Ethan was going to survive. Presea followed her the best she could, still wondering why she was helping Mikenne, when she had always been indiferent to Ethan.  
Then, a sound resounded in the almost empty hangar. Mikenne shivered. That sound was the one of an OF's hatch opening. Who could be in there?  
Mikenne turned back quickly, nervously, in order to see who was behind them.  
Marrek came out from his frame, but the two women knew it was him because the figure had come out from the Minotaur-like frame. He looked too thin and pale, with big dark circles around his eyes, and a strange expression in his face. He looked much older and much tired than what he had ever looked before.  
Then, Mikenne knew... she had seen that kind of expression too much... She knew it really well, too well... She had seen those eyes and that lost appearance in her parents... in fact, she just recalled them like that, looking more like the remnants of a human being rather than a real one.  
Marrek had recieved an over-exposure to Metatron while being onboard the Minotaur. It had to be related to the first time he got into the battlefield with that frame, which was a prototype... and for some reason, that frame was never massively produced. Now, she understood why.  
Marrek had been banned from the battlefield, after testing that prototype. His personality had changed, also, but everyone thought it was because of him being banned for no clear reason. Now, everything was clear to Mikenne. That OF had some Metatron leak, or something like that.  
Presea let go a high-pitched cry when she saw Marrek in that state. It barely resembled the strong, somewhat handsome guy she had shared many moments and nights with.  
Silently, Marrek started walking towards them, with that madman-like smile in his lips. He looked more than a zombie than a human being. The effect of the Metatron radiation was just like consuming drugs for a long time, but Metatron managed to get Marrek in that state in a really short period of time.  
Presea felt disgusted at him. He didn't look anything like when she had first met him. There didn't seem to be any hint of himself in his body. It was a painful sight for her.  
Mikenne, on the other hand, wasn't nervous because of his looks. She had seen many times what Metatron could make of a once healthy individual. She wasn't afraid of Marrek now red-tainted eyes, but of what he could try to do in that state. If he had always despised Ethan when he wasn't under Metatron's influence, in his current state he would just do anything without any remorse. Not that he had much scrupules and remorse without Metatron, but now things were quite different than what they had always been.  
She had guessed right what Marrek wanted to do. He started walking towards them, with his now red eyes fixed in the motionless body that lied on the litter.  
"Marrek, don't touch him!", Mikenne said, standing in front of the litter where Ethan .  
Marrek didn't reply, but continued walking towards the two women, with a nasty light in his eyes.  
Mikenne, frightened, picked up the gun she always carried with her and pointed it at him, nervously. "Don't come any further... you know I wouldn't miss a shot from this distance!", she warned him, with the real intention of threatening him. She didn't want to shoot at him, even if she had never liked him much.  
"Mikenne, don't use that thing!", Presea whinned, terrified.  
Marrek looked at the gun and laughed, funnily. "I have never thought that you were so hot for that idiot... there's no other explanation to this silly behavior of yours...", he said, walking towards the young women. All of a sudden, he hit Mikenne's arm, ready to pick her gun.  
Presea shouted, nervously, while Mikenne tried to keep the gun, holding it tighter. Marrek now picked Mikenne's arm with both of his hands, and kept struggling to get the gun. Mikenne, instinctively, started pushing and punching him, trying to get rid of him. Presea, on the other hand, was shocked, and run a few meters away from both of them. Ethan's body was left behind, in the exact place where it was when Marrek appeared.  
Without them noticing, Marrek and Mikenne started getting closer to the rail, as they both struggled to get the red-haired woman's gun. However, Mikenne managed to keep it, no matter how much force Marrek did. She also managed to stay away from the railing, while Marrek's back face it.  
It was a wordless struggle. Marrek couldn't -or just didn't want to- say anything, and his madman looks and red eyes were getting more and more frightening. Mikenne could barely look at him without feeling both disgust and... why not, some kind of pity for him. Metatron didn't have the right to ruin anybody's life. But on the other hand... who used Metatron? Who had decided, although not really knowing the risks, to become exposed to that strange and fascinating material?  
Marrek kept on pushing Mikenne, and this time, the red-haired woman got close to the rail. The green-haired leader of the Hellespontos branch kept on pressing her hand harder and harder, in order to make her drop the gun.  
Some tears of pain dropped from Mikenne's eyes. This wasn't fair. She was just trying to save one man's life, in exchange for all the pain and grief she had caused to just so many people, known or not. Why did she have to find Marrek, and why did she have to loose to him?  
Instintively, Mikenne started pushing harder against Marrek, trying to get away from him. She managed to get away from the rail, but she finally dropped the gun to the corridor. Quickly, she grabbed Marrk's arms strongly, before he could try to run and pick it. Again, the struggling dance started, this time heading towards the gun.  
They hadn't realized they had gotten next to the gun, when Marrek walked into it and lost his balance. Mikenne fall backwards, while Marrek fell down over the rail, not being able to keep his balance or to grab the railing.  
Mikenne couldn't do anything to help him, and when she stood up, the sound of Marrek's heavy body stricking to the ground was heard.  
Presea, who had seen the entire fight silently, let go a high-pitched cry a few seconds after she had heard the sound. It was as if she had been numbed... and Marrek's body collapsing against the ground had called her back to reality.  
Mikenne looked over the rail, frightened.  
"What have you done?!?", Presea shouted, histerically, joining her by the rail.  
Mikenne stood frozen, staring at the dark spot on the floor that was now Marrek's body. She had never meant it... it was an accident... she would have to deal with it later, now Ethan needed her... Ethan had more chances of surviving, rather than Marrek. "You know I didn't want to kill him... he would have killed us both if I didn't do anything!", she told the green-haired nurse, nervously.  
"How could you...?", Presea went on, shocked.  
Mikenne shook her head, and turned back "Now, help me with Ethan, please"  
"No, you do it... I have to assist Marrek", the nurse said, rushing down the stairs.  
"Presea, he's dead!", Mikenne shouted. "Ethan still has chances to live, then you can see if something can be done about Marrek! Help me with him!"  
"If you didn't want to save that Earthling, Marrek would be alive!"  
"Presea, let's be sincere... Marrek had been already dead for ages! He died when he decided to ride the Minotaur the first time! He had never been the same since that moment, and you should know it well!"  
Now, that red-haired woman was damn too right... Marrek had always been a jerk, but he became a greater one after the Minotaur incident. It had been so severe, that he had been banned from riding an OF forever. And that figure that intercepted them upstairs a few moments ago had barely a resemblance to him... and he acted much violently than what she recalled... now that she thought of it, Marrek become more violent after the Minotaur incident...  
The nurse tightened her fists, angrily, and sighed. "Alright, I'll help you with that guy"  
Mikenne smiled lightly. "Thanks", she whispered, touched.  
"Don't mention it", Presea said, coldly. "But don't ever ask me a favour again in your life... I don't want to die"  
"I won't"  
And that way, the two girls struggled to take Ethan downstairs.  
With some more struggle, they could get Ethan into the civilian LEV. Slowly, Mikenne was starting to understand all the crazy things she had been doing for a complete stranger... for an Earthling, to be more specific. Was it love? No, she knew it wasn't... it just couldn't be. She didn't know how to handle that stuff, as she had been always taught how to fight and survive, but not how to live. It couldn't be love, because she didn't know him well. The fact that he had been hiding his true origin -and the fact that she had never suspected it- showed her that it wasn't love what he felt for her, and what she was feeling at that moment. You can't love what you don't know. She could feel attracted to him... but rather than that, she was just trying to help him in return to all the times he had tried to give her a hand. She had refused all his offerings, thinking that she couldn't change. Now she wasn't sure that she could do it, but at least she thought that she could try to modify some things.  
Finally, she was done, and Ethan was now safe at the LEV. She closed the door and turned back, thinking about thanking Presea and leaving quickly. She would come up with some excuse for Ethan's state during the trip to the Hospital, at least, she hoped it.  
Presea was knelt down on the floor, next to Marrek's body.  
"I... you know I didn't want to kill him...", Mikenne mumbled, embarrassed.  
Presea didn't reply, but sighed.  
"I'll come back later", the red-haired woman said, shrugging. "Thanks for your help"  
"I didn't have any other choice... you would have pointed at me with your gun if I didn't want to help", Presea said, coldly.  
Mikenne didn't reply. Instead, she got into the LEV, started its engine, and left quickly to the city, wondering what she could tell the doctors to help Ethan, without being too suspicious.  
Presea stayed on the hangar, staring at her lover's dead body, wondering what she could tell Amante, and why things had to turn up like they did.  


* * *

"You didn't need to come, but I'm thankful and happy that you did"  
Hazel smiled at Alen's commentary. "Do you really thought I wasn't going to come? God knows when I'll see you again!", she exclaimed, staring at him melancholically.  
"I know... I'll try to get a wild-card for some gym competition, or to get some cash to be able to compete in the minor tournaments here", he said, as if he was guilty of his situation.  
"Don't worry about me... I can get through by myself, you see...", Hazel said, trying to sound confident enough. "Just don't overdo it"  
"Alright, mom", Alen teased her, and then he stayed silent.  
"This place still makes me nervous... even if I've been working here!", she commented, just to say something and break the silence among them, that was getting longer and longer. She would have liked to tell him that he looked quite handsome in that light brown raincoat he was wearing, but she was fearful that he would start thinking things... things that she didn't know herself, yet.  
"You are unique, do you know that?", he teased her, smiling politely.  
"I'm not unique. I'm just a weird gal who happens to meet more weirdos wherever she goes, and so... I may look unique, but I'm not"  
Alen just smiled, and stayed silent, once more. Hazel gave up her attempts to overcome his silent, reminiscent attitude, and sat down next to him.  
"Well, I think I should get up; they'll call me at any moment", Alen said after a while, as he stood up.  
"Ok", Hazel just said. Now, she was the silent one.  
They stayed there quietly for a while, not knowing what to say or do, until Alen felt an urgent need of saying something.  
"Hazel", Alen told her, as he grabbed her wrist tightly. "I want you to come with me. I want you to come back to Earth"  
"What?", she just whispered, caught by surprise.  
"What you heard", he said, staring at her seriously. "Return to Earth with me. You have nothing left here on Mars. Only a piece of stone where you can cry, and your cousin, and nothing more"  
Hazel looked down as she tried to find the answer. He was partially right. She hadn't many things on Mars. Her cousin, her firend Arantxa -Ara, to her-, a bunch of weirdos under the name of BIS. And a big, giant, strangely attracting OF by the name of Athenea. And that last thing seemed enough to stay, until she could do something worthy with it.  
"Alen... if the situation was completely different I would leave with you... but, today, I just can't", she said, trying to look for the best words to avoid hurting his feelings. "I know I can't save the world nor I can't make any difference, but now I know some things I didn't before, and I don't want anyone to go through all the shit we have gone through. If I run away from all of this, many people will die and will suffer what we did..."  
Alen nodded, as if he already knew the answer. "You aren't staying for him, are you?", he asked.  
Hazel denied it with her head. "Believe me, I've seen how they were left after hearing that chime, and how they lost their will after it. Maybe they didn't know what they were doing at that time... Whatever, if I've gone under something like that, I'd have also wanted to take revenge... but I would have looked for another way"  
He sighed, shrugging. "It may have been horrible, but they still did it, and that doesn't bring neither your parents nor my sister back to life. They should have thought it before doing it"  
Hazel hugged him, because she knew he needed it, and because she needed it. He looked so adorable when he was jealous...  
"Just tell me you aren't going through some kind of Stockholm syndrome", he said saddened, as he caressed one of her cheecks.  
Hazel smiled lightly and looked down, as she blushed. "I'm not in love with him. I think I never was. But we seemed to match in many things, just like you and me did back in those days. And you know well that 'misery likes company', and that company may bring something else", she explained.  
"I know. That's why I've asked you", Alen said, somewhat relieved. "However, I think I love you, even if it's been a while since the last time I saw you, and I don't want you to suffer"  
Hazel didn't reply at that.  
"Do you think you could love me? We already know each other rather well...", he said, sort of anxious. "And all this time I haven't seen you I missed you. And this last days by your side made me realize that I've been missing someone else rather than just my sister..."  
Now Hazel thought she had seen it all, but she realized that she didn't. She had never expected this kind of confession from Alen, when he was almost with one foot on the spaceship. Nor in a time like this, when they both knew that maybe they wouldn't see each other again. But what was worst for her was that she couldn't give him a real answer. She loved being with him, he looked after her, and, as he said, he already knew her just as she was, with her traumas and her virtues. And he said he loved her, and missed her...  
"Maybe if you stop training so much...", she started saying, softly. "I don't want you to develop those big, fibrous muscles that some gymnasts have", she finally said, smiling.  
Now, that was an unique answer, and thankfully, Alen knew Hazel well. He smiled at that comment, knowing that, coming from her lips, it was something close to a 'yes". "Is that one the only thing that is setting us apart?"  
Hazel smiled lightly, embarrassed. "I don't know... I supposse it isn't... but let's start pointing out what we like and what we don't like of each other before it's too late", she said softly, almost whispering.  
Alen smiled satisfied, believing that he was about to succeed. It would take time, but knowing Hazel as he did, he could tell she was quite enthusiastic about the entire idea. "I won't hurt you, I promise. Neither with my actions nor with my strong arms... which are quite slimmy right now", he said, teasingly.  
She laughed, for the first time in days. Maybe that's why he liked him... and why she felt well around Ares before she knew what he had done. Both of them brought the best from her out. "I know that for a gymnast you are slim... but they look intimidating to me, nonetheless", she said, trying to think in more trivial things.  
"I don't want to leave you here...", he said, now seriously. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"  
She nodded, confidently. "Don't worry for me now. I'll be fine", she said, kissing him on the cheek.  
"When all this ends, I'll return and I'll take you with me. I want to be with you in your first spaceship trip since then...", he said.  
"I'll be waiting here", Hazel said. "Besides, you know I can't get on a spaceship if I'm not sedated"  
"We'll work on that when the time comes", he said, smiling broadly, knowing that he had gotten a "yes" from her. "Well... I have to go", he said, after listening the call for his flight.  
"Goodbye, and take care", Hazel said, a bit awkwardly.  
"You too", Alen said, as he kissed her cheek and grabbed his wares. After that, he turned back and left for the gate.  
Hazel stared at him as he left, until she couldn't see him anymore.  


* * *

Mikenne sat down in one of the plastic chairs along the hospital's corridor, after buying a hot cup of coffee from the cofee machine.  
She stared at the hot, fuming coffee without paying attention to it. Her mind was far away from the coffee, from Mars and from all the things she used to know or believe.  
Weakly, she leant her head against the wall and closed her eyes, resigned. She still couldn't believe the way things had turned out.  
She wasn't feeling guilty for having pushed Marrek, as it was either Marrek or Ethan's life what was in question, and for her, Ethan deserved more to be alive, rather than Marrek. Still, she couldn't believe that she had found the courage to hit him and make him fall. It was after that event that she realized that she cared for the Earthling more than what she thought.  
As she sipped her coffee, she went on thinking about her recently deceased boss. She still couldn't believe that he was dead. Alright, she pushed him and realized that he was dead, and then, she just left to carry Ethan to the Hospital. Presea, once she had helped her to carry the uncounscious Earth runner, must have run to him right after she left. Maybe she could find a way to help Marrek, in case he was alive, after all. But Mikenne knew that that wasn't going to happen.  
One other thing she couldn't believe was that she had definetly disobeyed a superior. It felt... odd. She wasn't proud nor happy for having killed someone, yet... the only fact of making a choice by helself, without anyone "guiding" her was surprising and charming to her. A little light of hope shone on her eyes. Maybe she could get her humanity back to her, and feel normal, once again.  
She checked her wristwatch, impatiently. It was taking too long. It must have been like three hours since she came into the Hospital, carrying Ethan the best she could into the Hospital's hall. Paperwork took some time, and she hadn't seen a doctor for a long time, since she was waiting outside the Intensive Care area.  
She sipped some more coffee, now thinking about Ethan. She just wanted him to be fine, and surprisingly enough, she found herself eager to fight against Death itself to keep him alive.  
To keep him alive...Suddenly, Mikenne was worried. Was that what he wanted, to be alive, when he had been determined to kill himself during the battle, and after having implored her to kill him, before the others found out that he was a spy? Was she doing the correct thing?  
"I'm doing what I had to", she told herself imperatively. "I couldn't let him die in the wasteland, and I couldn't allow a pervert, sadistic madman to kill him, especially when that same guy killed his twin!". The only memory of Ruth made her realize that he had two possibilities: to live on for his twin, or to die, in order to join her. Apparently, he had chosen the latter one. But she wanted him to take the first one.  
Still, she wanted him to live. More than an obsession, it was a need. She needed him alive to feel herself human and alive once more. Even if she had "dumped" him even before starting anything, she needed him. If she had dumped him, it was because she cared for him and didn't want to destroy him, like everything and everyone she had around. If not, look at Marrek... She didn't even cared for him, and he ended up getting killed by her.  
Ironically enough, she wasn't the one who had "destroyed" Ethan this time... but Marrek.  
"Is there any relative to Ethan Cromwell?", a middle aged, yet bald doctor asked, taking a look at Ethan's clinical history. His voice caught Mikenne by surprise, and called her back to reality.  
"I am", Mikenne said, jumping off from the chair and walking to the doctor.  
"Which is your bound to him?", the doctor asked, examining Mikenne suspiciously. She didn't look like the young man he had seen on a bed seconds ago.  
"I'm his fiance", Mikenne lied, acting secure. She knew that that would never happen, but it was the only way to know about his health. Besides, she liked how fiance sounded.  
"Oh, I see", the doctor said, now satisfied.  
"What's wrong with him? Will he survive?", Mikenne asked, rushed.  
"He's in a tough situation... Right now his in a comma", said the doctor, coldly. "He has had an important trauma... and his situation is quite strange...", he said, suspiciously. "Can you really tell me what has happened to him?"  
Mikenne shivered, trying to think in something quickly that wasn't unbelievable. She couldn't tell him the truth, that would only be for trouble. "He... I don't know", she started mumbling, sobbing. "He works in a Laboratory... he said he wasn't feeling well, and then he just fainted. We were about to have dinner when he fainted", she said, looking down, nervously. "I don't know if he had been exposed to something... or if he had had an accident there... I don't know..."  
"What kind of laboratory?", the physician asked, coldly.  
Mikenne tried to think in something that could sound reasonable, and yet real, without telling the entire truth. "They develop LEVs..."  
"So Metatron is involved, uh?"  
Mikenne nodded, now feeling relieved. Now, with that data, they would be much able to help Ethan... And she didn't say anything about it. It was just that man's conclusions.  
The physician stared severously at her, but then he seemed to believe the explanation. "Now I understand more... He didn't show any symptoms of some previous disease, and commas don't happen because they want to. Illegal laboratory activity is quite popular these days...", he said, trying to calm Mikenne down. "You should think in getting a lawyer and try to get to an agreement with that company... or at least that the government pays the Hospital bills... somehow"  
Mikenne nodded, still unsure that the physician had actually believed her story. "Is he going to die?", she asked, touched. She already knew the answer, but there was nothing wrong in asking.  
"We'll do our best to bring him back from his comma, but it's just a matter of time right now", the man said, trying to sound calming, but without loosing his coldness.  
"May I see him?", she asked, without intending to. The words just slipped from her mouth.  
"Only five minutes. Follow me, I'll give you the suitable equipment, and I'll call you once the five minutes are gone", he said, harshly.  
"Thanks", Mikenne mumbled, grateful, as she followed him.  


* * *

Warren opened up his eyes, with some difficult at first. The incoming light made him feel uncomfortable on the unknown place where he was. Slowly, he recognized one of the first aid rooms at the Saoshyant. The light coming from the window was too bright and made it difficult to see his surroundings.  
"Finally, you waked up!", he heard Mebius' soft voice, and for a second, he was delighted. Nothing mattered to him at that moment.  
He tried to sit down in his bed, but he noticed that he was still too weak. He couldn't recall well what had happened before he lost his consciousness. They were in a battle, but he couldn't remember much further than that.  
"Don't even try to sit!", Mebius cried, rushing to his side. "You sure have been beaten last time", she said, sitting now by his side. "You were going to keep on protecting Myona, even if you were to get killed, weren't you?"  
That helped him to remember. Myona was being controlled by the MindFlow System, since she had gotten into the Nerokerubina, in order to help them... And he tried to protect her from the BAHRAM and UNSF attacks. He must have run out of energy, and so, he lost consciousness.  
"How's she?", he managed to ask, weakly.  
"She's fine... right now she's sleeping, and she's recovering", Mebius explained him, softly.  
"And what about Lia?", he asked, not really realizing that he was showing how much he loved the little girl.  
"I left her with the rest... she's really concerned about you, but I didn't want to let her see you right now, until you wake up... she would get too anxious if you couldn't reply to her"  
"You did the right thing, you don't have to explain that much"  
"I'll bring her later, she'll love that"  
"That's good...", he said, now starting to feel better, and now used to the bright light. He noticed Mebius staring at him with an odd smile, as if she was enjoying the situation. And he couldn't understand what she could be enjoying, as they were all in a strange, difficult situation, having BAHRAM, and now the UNSF, behind them.  
"What's wrong?", he asked her, slightly annoyed.  
Mebius giggled. "Why do you ask?"  
"You look strange... you usually don't giggle much when you are around me, and especially when Lia's not around us...", he said, concerned.  
Mebius kept on staring at him with that strange smile, without saying anything, and the silence was starting to make him more and more nervous and anxious. "You have some interesting eyes, after all", Mebius finally said, smiling.  
Warren blushed, and this time, he had nothing that could hide his brown eyes from meeting Mebius's blue ones. Instinctively, he moved his head in the opposite direction, evading her sight.  
Mebius stared concerned at him. "Why do you do that? I've known you for some years, and this has to be the first time I see you without glasses"  
Then, he understood that the light wasn't brighter, it was just that he didn't have his sunglasses on.  
"I... well...", he mumbled, not knowing what to say.  
"All this time I thought you had some kind of an unadmitted eye disease, only that I never dared to ask you...", Mebius said, smiling. "I'm happy to learn that you are fine!"  
He tried to sit down on the bed, but he was still too weak to do it on his own. While he was struggling, Mebius got by his side and helped him. Mebius hand was so warm... he blushed once again, and tried grabbing his sunglasses from the night table, but she stopped him.  
"Why the rush?", she asked, annoyed.  
"I...", Warren mumbled, trying to come up with a reason.  
"Are we so inferior to you that you can hardly see us without your glasses?"  
Now... what the Hell was going on on Mebius' head to think something as strange as that? And why in a difficult time like that one?  
Warren sighed, trying to remember when he had first started using his sunglasses. He had been a mercenary, so the glasses were just a touch to bring up the "consumate professional" aura he needed to make an impression on his future clients. But after the day he had shot an innocent girl hostage accidentaly, his glasses had another meaning to him...  
It wasn't that he felt superior to anyone... he just felt ashamed to see others, and to be seen by other people. He had killed people once, he even killed an innocent hostage... and he kept on killing people when he got into his OF... He just couldn't stare anyone's gaze.  
Without his glasses, he felt like naked. He didn't have any kind of protection towards the outside world.  
And now, he had Mebius, with her beautiful blue eyes, asking him why he had to wear them constantly. Right at that moment, her pretty blue eyes were looking at him icy, coldly...  
"Mebius... it's not that!", he managed to protest, finally.  
"Then, you should say what it is!", she replied, angrily. "If I'm going to raise a girl, and if you are to be the father, I should at least know more about you!"  
Again, the now eternal question popped up in the bed-ridden Warren's bed: Why? Why at that moment? Was Mebius taken advantage that he wouldn't walk away to ask all those questions?  
But something caught his attention, something that it had to be the first time he had ever listened from Mebius mouth: she was starting to accept the idea of having him as Lia's father. She was starting to accept the fact that the girl loved him, and that he loved the girl... and she didn't want to be left out from that picture. And, for that, she needed to know him more.  
He blushed at that line of thought. He had loved Mebius for a long time, but, due to his personality and his past, he thought he would never be able to make an impression on her. Lia's appearance had helped to make them spend more time together, but Warren was sure that he had made a wrong impression on the blonde BIS member from the very beginning. Now, he had the opportunity to mend his mistakes.  
"Alright, I'll talk... it's a long story, however", he said, hoping that she would prefer to leave it for another time.  
"I have time", she said, smiling.  
He blushed again, as he tried to find a beginning.  
"You look cute when you blush, but you are cuter without those damned glasses", she said, in a way he thought he was more encouragingly than real.  
"You won't think that after listening to what I have to say"  
And so, he talked, and she listened. When he had stopped, he felt somewhat freer. She, on the other hand, liked him a bit more for having shared with her his life, his reasons. It was something she would treasure, as she could imagine how hard it had to be for Warren to speak up his mind and share his feelings, especially with her. On the other hand, she felt a bit sad. He was so different than her late husband. But she had to understand that they were two completely different people, from different backgrounds and with differents lives. Besides, she had to admit that she had also killed people on the battlefield, and so, she wasn't the same Mebius that her late husband had met. She sighed at that statement.  
"Too dissappointed?", Warren asked. He tried to grab his glasses, but he saw her white hand hitting his dark one.  
"No", she replied. "At least, not at you, but at the entire situation. Is something that happens too usually on me, so you'll have to get used to that"  
"Won't you ever let me use those sunglasses again?", he asked, rubbing his hit hand.  
"I'll try to erradicate those slowly", she said, smiling. "That's another thing you'll have to become used to"  
"I see", he said, sighing, but also feeling happy for the opportunity that was at his hand.  
Slowly, Mebius placed her head over his chest, and remained silent. She had to be sure that she was doing the right thing. She knew that Warren would do anything to protect Lia and the others, but, at the battlefield, she realized that she needed him to raise the girl up. Lia had already lost her real parents, and she became attached to Warren in an incredible way. She just couldn't separate the girl from him, and now, she didn't want him to do anything stupid that would separate him from Lia... and why not admitting it? She also needed him. She was used to having him around. And she thought that it was just because of the habit of living under the same roof. But that moments on the battlefield showed her that maybe it was not just that...  
Warren, started caressing her hair, without really realizing what he was doing. He would have thought millions of time before doing that if he had been in good shape.  
Mebius smiled, thankfully.  


* * *

Mikenne stared at Ethan, with tears in her eyes. She knew she shouldn't have given into her desire to see him, but, for once, her emotional-self defeated the analitical one. More than a defeat, it was beaten up greatly. Now, she was regretting it.  
Seeing the guy she liked (she couldn't say love, she still didn't know if it was love or if she just wanted to help the guy that had tried to help her, without success) lying on a bed, uncounscious, and connected to many machines to keep him alive was quite a shock that she had underestimated. Or completely ignored. She just jumped ahead at the possibility of seeing him when she asked the Doctor at charge if she could see him for some brief moments. Now, she believed that she had spent more time getting changed with the clothes the visitors had to wear at the Intensive Care section, than what she was going to spend by his side.  
She tried to remain calm. The Doctor had told her that his situation was difficult, but that it was not impossible to come out of the comma, with all the scientific advances. Besides, it was an induced comma, until he could be in a stable state.  
She sat next to him, staring at him all the time. It was as if she wanted to save in her mind every single detail. She was somewhat relieved at seeing him at ease, after so many months of struggle.  
He had to be strong. He was strong, but he had to prove it this time.  
"Just don't die", she said, pressing his hand. "I've fucked up my already fucked up life for you... don't give up", she whispered, angstly.  
She felt anxious, but, on the other hand, she felt at ease. Now, Ethan was safe. If he had to die, it would be because it was his time, not because she had let him die. Now, Ethan had to do his best to get out from his situation. She would be with him until someone from his family appeared.  
Mikenne blinked, realizing just then that she would have to contact his family, somehow.  
"You sure are getting me into trouble", she said, staring at him. "I know you are worth it, but you should make it worth it at the end. So don't die... I don't want to know that you are dead while I'm in jail, ok?", she whispered, thinking that his family would hand her over to the Earth forces after she told them where he was.  
"Just don't die... Ruth wouldn't like it", she added. She would have added that she didn't want him to die, too, but she had no rights or obligations over him. But she was acting as if she did.  
She stayed the remaining minutes she had with him touching his hand and trying to give him strength, while wondering how she could contact his family.  


* * *

Mikenne got into her room, exhausted. It had been a long day for her. Luckily, she hadn't met Amante or that despisable Dr Harris through the corridors, so those were good news. She just wanted to get in her bed and sleep... for a long while.  
She was yawning greatly when she noticed a white piece of paper over her bed. Slowly, she walked to her bed and sat on it, as she picked the paper and started reading.  
This was a strange situation... it was a note from Presea. She started reading it, interested and curious about what the young nurse would have to say.  
"Mikenne, I know you must be wondering why I wrote you these lines, but, in this day and age, I would have been signing my own death sentence if I had sent you an e-mail, even if I would be already far away. So, I thought it would be a sense idea to write it down".  
"I'm leaving. By the time you'll read this, I hope to be at least in the other side of the city. I don't know where I'm going, and I wouldn't write it here. I can't tolerate this any longer. First Ruth, now Marrek... Ethan probably comes next. Marrek's death -because now he's officially dead, mind you- made me reconsider too many things. I have a huge whirlpool in my mind... I still don't know why I'm writing this! I just felt like doing it..."  
"I haven't told Amante about the "accident" with Marrek. She hadn't ask anything about it, I have just told her that I had found him uncounscious... Harris confirmed that he was dead... I don't know what happened since then..."  
"She didn't ask anything about Ethan, too... and that's suspicious. I think she knows, or that she's planning some nasty revenge or way of making us talk. That thought is enough to make me think about leaving this place, but it's not the only thing that drives me to do this..."  
"I just hope you'll be ok. Well, I'm sure you will, you know how to handle with that woman. Now, thinking about Marrek, I'm grateful that he's gone, as he wasn't the same person I have first met. And, thinking it coldly, also, I have to admit that you didn't intend to kill him, he just fall down..."  
"Good luck, Mikenne... I just keep wondering when things will stop being so nasty and hard to go through..."  
Mikenne folded the paper, thoughtfully. She was thankful that Presea hadn't accussed her of being the one who had killed Marrek. But now, she had another thing to worry about: Amante. She had completely ignored while she was taking care of Ethan. What could she make up as an excuse? And Amante wasn't like the doctor at the Hospital that believed her so easily... in fact, she still couldn't understand how that man believed her story.  
The red-haired girl sighed, anxiously. Yet, she remained confident. She had been able to get out of many difficult situations... there was no reason to panic and think that she wouldn't get out of this one.  


* * *

The following day, the situation was close to normal. Myona was recovering slowly, but there was nothing to worry about her condition. Warren was now hanging out at the hangar, evaluating his Durandal II's condition. Mebius seemed more relieved, and everyone had to admit that there was something strange going on between Lia's foster parents. Something strange was lurking in the air...  
Hazel, Arantxa and Cynthia were at the main room, having breakfast. It was a difficult situation for the three of them. Hazel was starting to feel that she was about to betray her parents by starting to understand the reasons behind Ares and Myona's assault -which then became Ares's solo mission- at the Bonaparte III. She wouldn't justify it, but if she had been under their circumstances, she would have also liked to kill that bastard. Well... didn't she want to kill Ares for having killed her parents and all that innocent people? Of course, she did, and she remembered that. She was in a moral crossroad at the moment: could it be that she could actually forgive Ares for having killed her parents? Didn't that mean a betrayal to them? What would Alen think about her if she did that?  
Cynthia, on the other hand, felt completely lost at this setting. What the Hell was going on? Robin and Semyl managed to tell her what was going on, but she still felt lost. Alright, what they had gone through had been hideous, but... Ares and Myona could have looked for another method to have their revenge! Even if they stole two OFs really valuable for that person, she still thought that the entire idea was... silly. They should have looked for diplomatic help. The Martian Human Rights Organizations would have been delighted to help them. On the other hand, they were completely alone, and so, the BAHRAM folks that approached them became their saviors, and so, they sticked to them... The Human Rights' People weren't around when they needed them, also. Whatever the case, Cynthia was feeling more and more inclined for the Diplomatic path, and was now eager to return to the city to investigate about that career, or something related to it. The only idea of being able to help in some way to her homeland was starting to be more glamorous than any dress made by any Terran fashion-designer, and she was ready to bid farewell to her dreams of showing her designs at the Milan Fashion Week, and was starting to embrace the idea of never-ending debates at the Martian Congress.  
Arantxa, lastly, was the most lost of the three girls. After all, she was the last one to meet the gang. However, knowing BAHRAM as she did -due to commentaries of her fellow Vacilian friends, family and after her own incident-, nothing related to BAHRAM was strange to her. Logic-less, it could be, but not impossible nor strange. She just hoped that someone, it didn't matter if BIS or the UNSF, would exterminate that rebel group for once and for all. Her friend's death had to be avanged, somehow. And she wanted so much to return to her home, to her dear Vacilia. She wanted to see her brothers and sisters, and meet her nephews, and see her parents, too many things had changed since she escaped. She couldn't imagine her mother with graying hair, nor her siblings as parents... There were so many things she was loosing due to BAHRAM's existance.  
And so, the three girls had breakfast silently, each one immersed in her own thoughts. That was something that called Yukito's attention, as he walked past them.  
"What's with all this silence?", he asked, puzzled.  
"Thinking time", Ara replied, smiling. "We are getting used to it"  
"I see...", he said, chuckling. "It's quite strange to see both you and Cynthia silent. It must be Hazel's influence, I guess"  
"Haha, very funny", the mentioned girl said, but behind her cup she was smiling. Somehow, she was starting to relax...  
"Our throats have to relax, once in a while", Cynthia said, giggling.  
"That's also true", he admitted, nodding. "I wonder what would be of this place when you'll be gone", he said, grabbing his cell-phone, which was emitting a weird tune. Nobody asked where it came from, but they were sure that it must have belonged to some obscure late twentieth-early twenty-first century anime.  
"Why do you think we'll be gone?", the student asked, disappointed.  
"Well, nothing lasts forever, and you have to look for something better to do"  
"He's right", Ara agreed. "You can't escape all your life", she said, but she didn't know if she wanted to give a piece of advice to Cynthia or just to herself.  
"I also agree", Hazel said, "Besides, I don't want your parents to come after my throat"  
Yukito checked his cell-phone, and let go a pair of swearwords in his native tongue.  
"What's wrong?", Ara asked, while the other two girls looked perplexed at him.  
"My old man...", Yukito managed to mumble. "He had a heart attack... I have to rush to the Hospital"  
"Oh... shit", the black-haired girl just said, summing up all her sympathetic feelings.  
"Do you need a drive?", Hazel asked.  
"No... but it would be great if I could borrow your civilian LEV", he said, in haste.  
"Sure", the light-blue haired girl said, looking for her keys, then tossing them to him.  
"Thanks...", he said, and then he left to the hangar.  
The three girls looked at each other, shocked.  
"Well... one one thing goes bad, then everything will get worse", Cynthia phylosophed.  
"Those things tend to happen", Ara said, calmly. "Every storm has to stop"  
"I'm waiting for the storm to stop for ages", Hazel said, taciturnally.  
"She's soaked wet, you know...", Cynthia added.  
"And this place is... damned, lately", Hazel stated, annoyed.  
"With that negative face, nothing can stop your storm!", Arantxa protested, annoyed. "This is life: good things happen, bad things happen, too, and may last for longer. People live, people die, people have to leave their loved things behind... someday, things will be better. Hope's the only thing that supports us until the end..."  
Hazel nodded, knowing that her friend was right. But it hurt her so much, life's common circle...  
"I hope you'll be right", Hazel said, hoping. "Everyone here needs a bright sun over their heads"  


* * *

Finally, Myona was asleep, just asleep and conscious, and Ares was, finally, relieved. He stood for a long while, sitting next to his sister, holding her hand. He was happy that she was alright now, that she only needed some good rest for the time being... but he couldn't understand how it was that she decided to go in their help, and how it was that BAHRAM still had the MindFlow System, in a functional state.  
He thought about Mikenne, the red haired BAHRAM runner. He tried to remember if there had been a girl like her at Zephyr's Labs, but he failed. He didn't recall anyone who could match her, not even with another hair color. So that meant that BAHRAM, or someone else, had also gotten the MindFlow system technology some time in the past and used them with their people... The number of people who must have died after their trial-and-error tests must have been high, even if they got the final versions of Zephyrs' technique. After all... only he and his sister managed to survive, and there had been so many kids at the beginning...  
Ares sighed. Trying to recall faces brought him so many deep and painful memories, and the faces brought back people to his mind. His parents, the other fellow kids, either caught after so called accidents, or voluntarily given away by their families, who must have either believed that their kids would have a better future with the Earthlings, or just didn't care about them... and he also recalled all those Laboratory men and women, the nurses, the guards, Zephyrs himself... a cold chill run throught Ares' spine, and he shook his head several times, trying to get rid of those haunting memories.  
Luckily, after so much struggle, and at the verge of dying aboard the Iblis, or so he thought at that moment, he had understood that he had been wrong. Then, he didn't die, as he would have expected, and tried to live a normal life, for the first time in years. Only that he found his comrades in the middle of a combat, again, and he couldn't just go away, especially with Cage and his sister around, too. He didn't regret joining them again, all the contrary.  
He stared at his sleeping sister, proudly. She had been able to understand better first, thanks to her amnesia, and especially to Cage. Who would have said it? The same guy that could barely do anything by himself at the Bonaparte, took great care of his sister and made her realize how things were... he wasn't that weak after all. He smiled at that thought. He knew that Myona was in good hands with Cage, but he was eager to play the role of jealous, overprotective brother for a while longer. He now wanted all this BAHRAM mess to end soon, so he could give living a normal life a shot, for once and for all.  
He also wanted to try to find someone who could be as supportive as Cage was with Myona... and as he once had had at the Labs... but that was a long time ago... He once thought that maybe he could have found that person on Hazel, but now, that was out of the question. Maybe that's why it hurt him greatly everytime the blue-haired girl yelled at him...  
Well... it was time to leave his sister at ease, he thought.  
He coughed, and it hurt him more than what it usually did. He picked a tissue and found out that he had his hand covered with blood.  
That could just mean one thing: he was starting to get much worse than what he had first expected.  
Quickly, he cleaned his hand and got rid of the tissue, hoping that no one would find it. Luckily for him, Myona was still asleep. She would have become too worried if she had seen him like that. Slowly and silently, he walked to the door, ready to leave.  
Oh, great... Just as he was leaving the first aid room, Hazel was walking along the corridor.  
They stared at each other, Ares with cold eyes, while Hazel looked concerned... and not hateful, for the first time in weeks. Too bad that it had to be in a situation like this one that she decided to soften up...  
"Ares... could I talk to you?", Hazel asked, softly.  
"Hazel, I can't talk right now...", he said in a hurry, coldly, as he tried to get past her.  
"It's just a second", the light blue haired girl repeated, shyly.  
"No, I can't... Look, I know what you are going to yell at me..."  
"You don't!", Hazel interrupted him, enraged. "You think that I've already said everything, and that you are the only one that can try to apologize and explain his reasons! Do you really think that I can't say anything more, and that you know me completely well because, oh, yes, because you killed my family indirectly?!?"  
Ares stared at her surprised. He had already thought that she couldn't get angrier at him, but right then, she was just like the day she had found out what he had done. And just because he didn't want to listen to what she had to say at that moment.  
"I don't think that...", he managed to say. "Hazel, I just thought you wanted to quarrel... and at this moment, I don't care about anything else rather than my sister"  
"I know... family comes first for almost everyone", she said, half seriously, half sarcastic.  
Ares sighed, irritated. "Yes... we all love our family more than anything, I guess"  
"Then, let me talk. It won't be more than five minutes, and I don't know if I'll have the courage to say this later"  
"I bet it can wait", he said, trying to get rid of her, but she was blocking the corridor.  
"No, now it's your turn to listen to me", she said, energically. "You've asked me to listen to you, but you've never let me say something about it"  
Ares stared at her silently, knowing that she was right this time.  
"I'm quite socially awkward, as my parents kept moving from one city to the other all the time through all my life, and I've never stayed in a place for so long to call it home. And I was always the odd one out at school. I was always weird, be it for my obviously foreigner accent, my looks, even my way of thinking. It was hard to make any friends, especially if I never knew when I would have to leave that place for only-God-knows-how-long... That doesn't help some kind of people to develop their social skills, so maybe that's why I'm so harsh and silent. My mother was an only child, and my father didn't have a fluid relationship with his sister, with Cynthia's mom, and I didn't have any grandparents or some kind of other relatives left, so my parents were my only family, practically.", she said, as if she was getting free from a heavy load over her shoulders. "Of course they aren't to blame, it's so easy to blame a dead person for one's mistakes and faults... I'm also guilty of what I had done with my life... maybe I'm the most guilty. No, it's not a 'maybe', I'm really the one who drove myself to this. I'm not too sociable on my own, and the fact that I was moving around all the time didn't help much, all the contrary".  
"I can understand how you felt when you two lost your parents, and then were driven into hideous experiments... I understand you too well, because I've been feeling like that since I've lost mine! Alright, you can't compare the loss of my parents to the physical and mental suffering you have had with that Zephyrs guy... but, at some point, it's the same. Your normal lives had been taken away from you without anyone asking, and then, when you realized what had happened, nothing was the same, nor it would ever be the same... Even if circumstances were different, the feeling is the same. We can start arguing about who has suffered much more than the other, but that's not the point here. The point is that you two decided to take revenge... and I was one of the screwed up ones in the process"  
"Having just seen a glimpse of what was made of you, I can say, sincerely, that that bastard had to pay, in some way or another... But I can't say that I agree with your choice. You could have stolen the frames before the ship left Earth, or you could have just stolen them, and get away without attacking the Bonaparte III... Alright, the ship did usual smuggling for him... but what about the innocent people onboard? My parents weren't smuggling anything... as far as I know. Melissa, Alen's sister, wasn't part of any rebel group... she was just a free spirit, I doubt there could be someone who could tell her what to do. There were so many people with their hopes, dreams and dramas aboard... and you and your sister stopped them all in a second. Alright, it wasn't just you... the people from the UNSF finished the job... maybe they screwed it up more than what you two had ever planned. I'll never know if you killed my parents, or if the Earth officers did. Both parties did a hideous thing... Earth's course of action has to be the worst of the two... but what you did was horrible. No one can dispose of another being's life... That Zephyrs guy couldn't do with your life what he did, but you couldn't do with all that innocent people, the passengers, what you did"  
She had been calm, yet firm during her speech. She was talking with her heart, and her soul, and also with her brain. She had had the time to analyze everything, slowly. Myona's attitude in battle, after the MindFlow System had been activated, helped her much to finally understand their point of view... but it still hurt her so much...  
"I can understand how you felt, but I can't justify what you had done", she finally said, touched.  
Ares sighed. He would have appreciated her effort of being nice and comprehensive much more if the situation had been different. Now, even if he was grateful that she was giving up the idea of killing him in the most hideous death available (she had never mentioned it, but he was sure she thought that way), he just wanted to be with his sister, and to know that she was going to be ok. And to get into a bathroom quickly, before she noticed his blood soaked tissue and stained hand.  
"I know what you must be thinking now", Hazel said, saddened. "This isn't the time to talk about this thing... or that I should have understood sooner", she said, saying alloud just what he had in his mind. "It may have no meaning to you right now... but it's a big step forward for me. I could have never understood... or I could have never said it. Just think it that way, when you have some free time... I could have never admitted it, and I could keep on blaming you for everything, 'till the end of time... Maybe you'll be able to understand me some day. Maybe you would just have to feel grateful that I could understand your position, after all"  
Having said everything, she took her jacket and left.  
Ares sighed. For the first time since Hazel learnt who was behind the Bonaparte III incident, she had been more mature than him... She managed, in some unknown way, to understand... it had taken him more time -and many desperate actions- to finally understand his own position. Maybe it was just easier to analyze other's dramas than the personal ones...  
She was right. Later, she wouldn't have been able to say it. He had just found her in a very unstable moment, where her inner self would leak and escape her "I can cope with everything" facade. Now, he was grateful she did it.  
He sighed. Right then, he had other things to worry about, like the blood he had just spat before talking to Hazel, and Myona's recovery, the most important thing.  


* * *

Cage got into the hangar, once he made sure that there would be nobody there. Silently, he walked to his frame, and stared at it. No matter how much time he spent looking at it, he knew it would never be like Testament. And that Pharsti wasn't there, and that he would never see her again. However, he needed to depend on it, just as he had done with its predecesor. Only that this time, he would be the one who would be in charge.  
He got into the frame quickly, and closed the cockpit's door behind him. While starting its systems and engine, he couldn't keep comparing it with Testament. "I know it's not the same... but this will have to do", he finally said, resigned. "I can't let those BAHRAM bastards screw up Myona's life"  
Quickly, he left the Saoshyant onboard the Will, seeking revenge.

* * *

Notes: Alright, the Alen x Hazel scene may look... odd, as it's not a 100% romantic scene, but it was what I was aiming for. I didn't want to make a "soup-operish" scene around him leaving, because they don't really know their feelings for each other. Alen really knows what he feels (that's what he thinks), but Hazel isn't sure, so she doesn't want to turn him down that quickly, but she doesn't want to give him false hopes, so that's why she ends up "complaining" about his arms. She needs a small reason to not fall immediatly in his arms.  
Things are coming to an end... it's really close...


	25. Barrier

Chapter 25: Barrier

"What the Hell do you mean that Presea's nowhere to be found?!?", Amante yelled, irritated. She was having a tough time, realizing that the few people she had with her were either dead, missing or running away like rats. "Well... she's the least important person in the entire base... so I shouldn't worry. If you are to get hurt, just die on the battlefield", she said to no one in particular, coming out with a solution, in her own strange way.

Mikenne smiled mentally. Amante hadn't realized that the nurse was missing until now, so Presea was safe, wherever she was now.  
"Fine... I guess it's time to take desperate measures", Amante said, tired.

Silently, she went to a PC terminal and started staring at different sets of data; then, she started typing like a maniac.

Mikenne stared at her, silently, until she sighed, annoyed. She was starting to feel lost. She thought that Amante would have made a great scandal about Marrek's death and Presea's dissappearance. Instead, she seemed calm about it... too calm. And that couldn't be good, concerning Amante.

Dr Harris walked along the corridor, but stayed at the door, glancing at Mikenne. It was as if the old scientist wanted to put her into the "suspects spotlight", or he just wanted to annoy her, by making her feel that he was everywhere around her, at any time.

Mikenne evaded his sight, until he finally got away.

Frankly, the silence was starting to get on Mikenne's nerves. It was sofocating and unbearable. Just to say something, she asked Amante what was she typing. The quick movement of her fingers didn't help much to her already altered nerves.  
"Well... considering that we don't have much left", Amante said, as she looked at the mostly empty hangar, "and that both of us can't really make an offensive mission, as good as we are, I think that I'll have to play another cards in all this matter".

Mikenne didn't dare to ask what she had in mind, but she knew it would mean no good for those BIS guys. But she didn't care much about all that now. She just wanted everything to end as soon as possible, and to leave BAHRAM. Well... leaving the rebel group would just be a matter of time, as the only important runners that remained were Amante and her, as far as she knew. Equipment and frames were few, and what once was a big, organized force was now a group of tiny cells scattered all along Mars.

Amante kept on typing violently, madly. Windows opened and closed before her eyes at lightspeed, but Mikenne wasn't paying much attention to that. She was more worried about Ethan and Presea, rather than about herself. But the minutes passed, and she noticed that Amante had, somehow, managed to get into the UNSF network, and that didn't look good to her. Besides, she never really answered the first time.

"Amante... are you sending the UNSF our coordinates?"

"Aha", the red-haired leader said, not paying much attention.

"But they'll get us! You are signing your own death sentence!", Mikenne protested, nervously.

"Come on, I would never do that!", Amante moaned, annoyed. "I thought you were slightly more intelligent than what you are being lately! You know that I don't do things if I don't get something good for me, do you?"

"Yes... but I don't understand the strategy here"

"Sometimes, there isn't much of a strategy to follow", Amante replied, as she went on typing and sending files throught the net to the UNSF network. "This is just a desperate idea..."

Mikenne finally took a look at the screen. She coughed, annoyed. "Are you accussing BIS of having attacked Corindon Labs?"

"Don't ask many questions, you can easily understand this"

"What I don't understand is why are you sending them our coordinates and their suppossed ones..."

"Again and again... sometimes, you are really hard to cope with!"

Mikenne didn't ask anything else, yet stared at Amante severely, inquiringly.

"I have already erased every important file, and gotten rid of anything incriminatory, so stop acting like a cry-baby!", Amante protested. "About BIS... well, it could be nice if they could get rid of them for us, wouldn't it?"

Mikenne sighed. She didn't want anyone else to get killed for a causeless war... Was this war, now that she thought about it? Or was it just a complete sequence of stupid encounters, one after the other? She sighed, tired. Did it matter, at this stage? Would it change something finding that out?

"Well, you are more silent than ever, and that's just too strange", Amante said, just to fill the silent room with some sounds. "I think that, with this, we'll get rid of BIS", she said, once she stopped typing. "We won't be able to use this base anymore, though"

Mikenne shrugged. Not that she cared much about it.

"And maybe we'll get rid of a couple of unnecesary things, too", Amante added, pleased.

Mikenne sighed, again. She was just thankful that Presea had decided to leave the base. For once, the green-haired nurse had been more intelligent than anyone else.

"Alright, let's get ready for our final fight in a while", Amante commanded.

Mikenne just followed her, resigned.

* * *

"Yes?", Colonel Boer answered his cellphone, quickly. "Margareth...! It's so nice and odd to hear your voice! Just tell me that everything's alright!"

He knew that Margareth calling was more a sign of something wrong going on, but he just wanted to believe that nothing was wrong, that it was just his imagination.

"Ethan what?!?"

His fears came true.

"I can't believe it... First Ruth, now this...", he mumbled over the phone, touched. "He asked me for help, and I couldn't do anything... I could have prevented it..."

The words spilled from his mouth, those weren't the most coherent things to say at a time like that.

"I know this is not the time to start blaming people, Marge, you are right... You are already in your way to Mars, you said? That's great... That person who told you says that there's still some hope left?", he asked, now relieved. "I hope so, with all my heart. I wouldn't forgive myself if something were to happen to Ethan. I can't already forgive myself for Ruth's fate... I'll try to do as much as I can to help you, Marge, don't even doubt it. I'll move Heavens and Hell apart to help you and mend my terrible mistake... Alright, I'll be waiting for you..."

Colonel Boer closed his cellphone, thoughtfully. This couldn't be happening to him. He had ruined that poor mother's life in... less than two weeks? Whatever, in a month... Ruth's death must have been a month or so ago, and now Ethan was in comma...

He hit his head against the wall, angry with himself. "If you hadn't insisted, those kids would be back at Earth with their mother, alive and happy", he thougth, bitterly.

He had been a friend of their father, and he had been the one who insisted them to join the Earth Military, to continue their father's dream... But was this what his father would have liked to see?

Right at the moment of the call, Colonel Joerg Boer was in the middle of a reunion with fellow Colonels and Officers, eager to destroy whatever trace of Martian people they could find. Next to him, his suppossed-right hand officer Philip Nor was sitting, enjoying the plans of the other military men. That meant: destroy BIS, BAHRAM, or whatever that rebel force was called.

Alright, being from Earth, he wanted his authority to be respected by the Martians, who were Earthian people living in Mars, so they all shared the same origin. There weren't really Martians, just Earthians raised in Mars, calling themselves Martians. But someone born in Mars before Earth collonized it... there weren't people, or beings, like that. So, they were all Earth people. End of the matter.

But most of his comrades looked at that same matter with other eyes. If that people had to leave Earth at some point or the other, they were just scum. They didn't belong to the mother planet, and they even wanted to surpass it, and so, they despised it. Martians were like the children of Earthians, and so, Mother Earth had to take a look at its children, and a heavy authority, especially now, that the children were misbehaving.

And now, somehow, in a rather suspicious and unknown way, they received the information that the rebel group BIS had been the one that had attacked Corindon Labs, who had been supplying Earth with OF technology.

"Then, everything's ready", some General said. "We have the perfect excuse to attack them"

"That's right", Philip Nor nodded, pleased. "We don't care if it's BIS or BAHRAM, they are just the same. And they have to start respecting us"

"I think that a long range missile attack is the best thing we can do. We already know their coordenates, so there's no reason to launch a manned attack"

"But I think that sending a few squads would make great practice", suggested another one, enthusiastically.

"That's right. Let's do that"

Colonel Boer just listened, absent minded. There had to be another way. He had always underestimated the Diplomats work, and the current space situation just proved how weak their work was. But there had to be a diplomatic way out from all that shit. Death would only bring more death... It took him a life and a half -Ruth's death and Ethan's comma- to understand that.

"Can't we find another solution, rather than blasting their heads out with our missiles or something as bright as that?", Boer roared, furiously. "We have already lost two fine Earth officers, who had been working under-cover at BAHRAM...", as he spoke, he realized how things trully were. "And no one cared!", he outbursted, defeated. "If you don't care about your own people, what meaning do Martians have to you, then? Don't answer me, I already know they have no meaning to you, no value. But they are human beings like us... I think there has to be a better way out rather than killing them all from one blow"

"Colonel, I'm afraid you are having an idealistic outburst", Nor mocked him, smiling. "And it doesn't look good in someone of your age..."

The others chuckled at that statement, in complete agreement with the younger man's attitude.

Joerg Boer couldn't hate himself more at that moment. He had helped to raise that monster called Philip Nor up. He had thought that he could become a good Military man. Well, he succedded in that. But he never paid attention to the human values and morals on that person. Now, he regretted it greatly. But it was too late.

"Well... since I'm the only one who thinks different, I guess it's time to say goodbye", he said, ripping his condecorations and bars off. "I won't fight for a planet that barely thinks in its own people... And before you tell me anything, I already know I'm not useful anymore, if I have ever been useful here...", he said, standing up and walking his way out of the office, under the silent, yet uninterested sight of his fellow comrades.

A quiet silence filled the room after Boer had slammed the door behind him, but it didn't last long. Some of the people there turned their faces to Nor, waiting for him to talk and express his ideas. "Well, what do you have in mind, Nor?", one finally asked.

Philip Nor smiled, feeling he had finally succeed, even if the Martian rebels were still alive. It was now his moment. Proudly and efficently, he said, "Well, I think we should launch a missile attack, mainly, but that there should be some units around the place, just to make sure that no one will escape, either alive or death. We should also inform the media, to let everyone know that the rebels are the guilty ones, and that we are making our best to make Mars a peaceful world... then, we'll have the Martian media and people adoring us, for protecting their so hard to get peace for them"

"A missile attack, uh?", one asked, rubbing his chin. "That would mean dirtying our hands the least... just perfect"

Most of the people there nodded, approvingly.

"Well, I'll get everything ready to launch the missile attack, so if you don't mind me leaving you, gentlemen...", Nor said, standing up.

"Of course, go ahead", one said. "We are trusting in both you and your strategy, Nor"

"I won't let you down, Sir", Nor said, confidently, before leaving the room.

* * *

"Oh, Robin, here you are!", Cynthia exclaimed relieved when she found the BIS leader walking along the corridor.

"Great to find you. Let's go to the main room, that I have something to tell you all", Robin said, worried.

"I also have to tell you something", the student started talking, but was soon interrupted by Robin.

"You'll tell me later, yes?", she said, as they had already reached the main room, where everyone else was gathered.

Cynthia sighed bitterly, but she had no other way out but to do what she was told to, so she sat down next to Arantxa and Hazel, frustrated.

"I don't have good news, guys", Robin said, bitterly.

"What is it this time?", Warren asked. He was there just because he insisted, as his body still hurt him, and his head felt a bit dizzy still, but he wasn't going to let it show.

"We are on our own, again", Robin said, embarrassed. "I've just been contacted by some NUT guy... they had decided to stop sponsoring us, since they got the false information that we have attacked Corindon Labs and been messing around with the UNSF. They say they can't be linked to a petty resistance group. No matter how much I tried to explain to him that the information was false, he wouldn't listen at all"

"Well... that's barely surprising", Razma stated, sarcastically. "They had already back off in the past... why would they change their attitude?"

"Now, just why did they approach you after you left them?", Cynthia asked, confused.

"It's always a smart move to have a rebel group to use as test subjects", Robin said, bitterly. "They waste less money, and if there's any trouble, they get rid of it quickly, without dirtying their hands... just as they are doing right now"

"Then, why did you accept their help again, if you knew well their behavior?", the student asked again.

"Well, the money was the key factor. It would be a matter of cents to them, but it was really useful to us", the BIS leader admitted, shrugging. "Besides, we could get OFs and upgrades for them for free. It's not as bad as it sounds"

"I see...", the brown haired girl replied, but she didn't understand it that much. The politics world was starting to look more and more dangerous to her, or at least, more complicated than what she had expected.

"Where's Cage?!?", Myona asked worried, when she realized that Cage wasn't in the room with them.

"What do you mean?", Ares asked, uneasy.

"Hey, Myona's right!", Semyl shouted, annoyed. "He's not 'ere!"

"I'll go and check through the ship!", Razma yelled, rushing in haste.

"Crap, I didn't realize that he was missing", Robin said, feeling guilty for having ignored the blue-haired guy. "How could I have ignore him?"

"It's alright, you've been worried with what that NUT guy said", Mebius comforted her friend, calmly.

"He's not here, and the Will ain't in the hagar!", Razma yelled, gasping for air.

"What?!?", Myona exclaimed, worried. "You can't mean..."

"Oh... Hell", Ares thought. Ironically enough, Cage had to be overgoing a state similar to the one he had when he decided to be a part in the Bonaparte III incident. He thought that Cage would be able to overcome his current tough situation better, and not exactly like him.

"Twede, get in touch with him right now!", Robin ordered, concerned. "Now, what was going in his head when he decided this? And where I was, that I didn't realize anything?", the leader said, in the verge of tears.

Hazel handed her a glass of water, while Mebius tried to calm her down. "You were talking to the NUT guy... when things have to go wrong, they do it all together, not one by one"

"I know... but I'm the responsable one here!", Robin whinned, sipping some water.

"I got him, Robin", Twede said, opening a video link to Cage's frame.

Cage frowned, once he realized his pals had already found out where he was. "What do you want?"

"What a way to say hello", Warren greeted him, from his chair.

Robin rolled her eyes. "I've never thought you would do something as stupid and risky as this, Cage. You've dissappointed me"

Cage didn't feel anything in particular about Robin's latest statement, but shrugged. "Sorry, then. But this was something I just had to do. They almost killed Myona, so why do I have to spare them their lives? Only to let them kill her in the future? And if it's not her, it will be someone else. Someone has to stop them..."

"But not this way!", the white haired leader cried, scandalized. "Cage, a solo mission is just suicidal! It's not a solo in a rock band!"

"I know, but this is an affair between Amante and me. I can't drag you with me in a personal revenge"

Robin sat down, feeling overwhelmed. The boy had guts, she had to admit it. "Cage, how on Mars did you do to get BAHRAM's coordinates?", she finally asked, eager to know.

"I don't know... I just studied their retreat direction each time they flew away... and came up with something reasonable"

"He's already better than me", Ares mumbled, proudly and ashamed at the same time, if that was possible. "I would have just gotten into the frame and start walking aimlessly until I found something"

"As noble as your reasons are, you are insane, Cage!", Robin yelled at him, annoyed. "You can't take against BAHRAM all by yourself, even if they are also weak!"

"Robin, let me talk to him", Ares asked, concerned.

Robin set aside, silently. Maybe between friends they could get to something.

"Cage, do you hear me well?", Ares asked, as some sort of introduction.

"Oh, don't tell me you are here to nag me, are you?", Cage asked, annoyed. "You are the least suitable one..."

"All the contrary. I'm the best person to try to make you understand the stupid thing you are about to do, as I've already done it myself", Ares interrupted him, energically. "Cage, have you thought that you could die there? Of course not. You are blind by your own pain, because Myona's the light of your eyes. But if you get to get hurt, do you think she'll like it? Do you think you'll do her any good getting yourself killed? How do you think my sister is at this very moment?"

Cage swallowed hard. He hadn't thought that Myona would be staring at him through the screen. For some reason, he had thought that she wouldn't be able to get out from her bed for a couple of days. And there she was, looking at him with tears in her eyes, extremely nervous. Now, he felt ashamed of his actions. But he had to protect her. Maybe he wouldn't end with BAHRAM, but he could try to ruin their MindFlow System technology and free Myona of it for ever.

"When I said that I was going to come back from death to deal with you if you ever hurt my sister... well, you know that that was something I just had to say, I was suppossedly about to die, so I just had to say something brave and fancy. I've never thought that I would have ever do it... I'm not here to deal with you, Cage. You are a great man on your own, and you don't have to do anything risky or stupid to prove that you are worthy of my sister, because you already are"

"I wasn't thinking in doing anything risky", Cage replied, trying to remain strong.

"Yeah, sure", Ares mocked him, sarcastically. "I don't think you have prayed for the well-being of the souls of everyone at BAHRAM while Myona was still unconscious"

Cage didn't reply that.

"Just what I thought", Ares said, chuckling. "You didn't need to prove either us or Myona that you were already a man, Cage. We all knew that before. You are doing the same things I did at one point. You are being stubborn and self-centered. Stop it. I can't tell you to come back, because BAHRAM may have already sensed you, or whatever"

Cage sighed.

"When I said you had to become a great man for Myona, I never meant you had to become a suicidal guy", he teased him, smiling lightly.

"May I talk to her?", Cage finally asked, touched.

"Sure", Ares said, and give his place to Myona, who was crying.

"Sorry, honey...", Cage started, sorrowfully. "I didn't realize you would be awake, or walking around, for that matter. I didn't think of anything but to kick their butts for what they had done to you"

"It's my fault, Cage", Myona said, between sobs. "I shouldn't have gotten into the Nerokerubina. Everyone warned me about it, I even knew the danger it meant, and still... I didn't think, too, at that moment. Then, it was too late. I just hope it won't be too late for you..."

"I'll try my best to not get killed...", he promised, awkwardly.

Myona cried harder at the idea of Cage getting killed.

"Sorry, honey... I didn't want to harm you this much... I still have so many things to learn... so many things to understand and to control..."

Robin moved Myona softly to a sofa, while Hazel handed her a glass of water. "Cage, do you hear me?", she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, Robin"

"Go on with your plan... you have already started it. We'll try to get as soon as we can to back you up"

"But...", Cage mumbled, surprised.

"BIS is like family, and we aren't going to let you there on your own. You took the wrong decision. You should have shared your problem with us... But we won't leave you alone in this. And I think you are not the only one who has some unfinished bussiness with BAHRAM", she said, now staring at her companions. Everyone had a reason to try to stop BAHRAM. Either personal, or just to try to bring some peace to Mars, which it needed it badly.

"Try to do your best, we are going", she said, before closing the conversation window.

She turned back and sighed, resigned. It was then, when she was staring at her comrades, when she noticed something...

"Now, where's Yukito?", Robin asked, nervously. "I thought he was here. He's nowhere to be found when he's really needed!"

"Oh, Hell, I've forgotten telling you!", Cynthia cursed, annoyed. "Well, I was searching for you to tell you when you told me to talk to you later so it's not really my fault..."

"Make it short! Where's he?", Robin interrupted the student, anxiously.

"He had to go to the Hospital. His father had a heart attack, or so he said", Arantxa explained.

"He went in my LEV", Hazel added.

Robin stared at that sudden Greek chorus she had in front of her eyes. The three girls were starting to complement each other rather well. "Fine, I see... Poor guy, he was starting to get along with his father lately"

"What will we do now?", Semyl whined. "We have to stop Cage, and we have a frame and a LEV less!"

Robin bit her upper lip, thoughtful and anxious. There had to be a way to bring everyone back safe and sound, including Yukito's father.

"We'll have to go there and bring Cage back, praying that the UNSF won't appear", Twede said. "We are short on people and weapons... we can't do much"

"You two", Robin said, staring at Myona and Warren, "stay in this room until I return. I don't want to hear that you moved one inch from where you are right now"

"Robin, you are short on people, I have to go", Warren protested, trying to look calm and ok.

"Warren! Robin's right!", Mebius exclaimed, protective. "You have to think in more people than

just yourself!", she said, holding Lia in her arms.

"I know! That's why I have to go!", the brown haired man grumped.

"I mean, there's more people aside the regular BIS members!", Mebius said, holding Lia in front of his face.

"Alright, you are right, I'll stay", Warren said, defeated. However, he had to feel good at heart, since Mebius was paying much more attention to him lately.

Myona lowered her head, instead. "I know: I wasn't going to tell you to take me with you, since Cage's solo mission is entirely my fault"

Semyl hugged her friend, trying to cheer her up. "Don't say things like that... Nobody had ever expected him to run away and kick BAHRAM's ass like he's doin' right now"

"But they'll tear him into pieces!!", Myona said, crying out loud.

Ares sighed. He wasn't feeling well, but seeing Myona crying reminded him of his promise to Cage: that he would even come back from whatever he would end up to settle things down with him if he ever made his sister cry. "Cage, your moment has come", he thought, bitterly, but also feeling sorry for his friend.

"No, sweetie, they won't", Mebius said, trying to calm her down.

"Well, guys, I need you all the ones that can ride a LEV or an OF, so we can back up Cage, in case the UNSF pop up, or Amante gets reinforcements, even if I don't think that the latter will happen. So, Semyl, Razma, Ares, Hazel and Mebius go with me to the battlefield"

"Can't I stay with Myona? She's emotionally unstable right now!", Semyl whined, hugging her friend.

"We will take great care of her", Arantxa said, motherly. "Trust us. She won't get anywhere further than this four walls"

"Semyl, I can't tell you to switch places, because I fear your LEV will go berserk with me inside", Cynthia said as an apology, touched. She would have liked to let the red-haired girl to take care of her real friend, but she was afraid she would be more trouble than what she would be worth at the battlefield.

"It's alright, Cynthia... you are right", Semyl said, sighing. "I'll go"

"I'll go on the Blade", Robin said. "If things get too tough, we always have the Edge, even if it doesn't have weapons... Hell, I should have upgraded it while we still had NUT's support"

"Stop blaming yourself, Dana, and go!", Twede whispered her, imperative.

Robin sighed. "You are right. Let's go"

* * *

"What does this mean?!?", Amante yelled, out of herself, when she heard a loud noise.

Mikenne got out from her room, and Dr Harris even got his nose outside his Lab, too, after they felt something stricking the base.

They all rushed to the bridge to check what was going on, and they were quite surprised when they found out what was attacking them.

A lone Ifrit-like OF started attacking the BAHRAM base. That meant only one thing: Cage Midwell, from the infamous BIS group was after them.

Amante chuckled. She knew really well why he was there.

"What is he doing here, on his own?", Mikenne asked, puzzled. "You do know, don't you?", she faced Amante, seriously.

"He's trying to avenge his poor little sweetheart, who had suffered the MindFlow System activation the other day, just like you", Amante explained, chuckling again. "How lovely and brave...", she said, sarcastically. "A knight on shinning armor"

Mikenne stared at the firing Ifrit-like frame thoughtfully, touched. It had been years since she had felt touched by some romantic situation on the battlefield. She had always dismissed those as soup-operish and stupid, but now... Something was changing within Mikenne. She had to start coming into terms with her own thought lost humanity.

Dr Harris studied Mikenne as she remained silent. She was playing with her hair, her hand tense. She was almost shivering. He laughed, and then he said, "What? Are you wishing that that Earth guy could come to protect you, just like that Martian is doing now?"

Mikenne's fist tightened, furiously. "That's not your business", she said coldly.

"Who would have told it?", Amante asked, playing dumb. "Whatever, play the "knight in shinning armor will rescue me" by yourself and get ready. We won't let him ruin the little base, will us?"

Mikenne sighed bitterly, but went on her way to the hangar. Reluctantly, she got into her Ifrit and left the base, eager to leave behind Amante and Harris.

"Start shooting at him while I take my time to get ready", Amante ordered her from the base.

Mikenne, once outside, just stared at Cage's frame. Cage started firing at it as soon as he saw it. Mikenne just dodged his attacks, but remained defending herself.

Amante was too busy setting her own frame and trying to gather enough units to deal with Cage, or else she would have started yelling at her. Mikenne's attitude change was something... troublesome for her. Now Amante recalled the MindFlow System, but decided to wait a bit more before using it.

Cage went on firing at the Ifrit, enraged by its lack of action. "What's up with you?", he finally asked. "Aren't you going to counter-attack?"

Mikenne shrugged. It barely did any effect on her the outcome of the battle. "I'm not interested in killing you, not even fighting you", she finally said, taciturnally. "I don't have a good motive to fire at you. Maybe it's your frame, what makes me act this way. I would feel like firing at myself", she said, but she knew that wasn't true, as she had already shot at Cage several times before.

"I used to have that experience before, too", Cage said, drawing his Metatron sword. "But not now", he said, charging against Mikenne.

The red-haired woman saw as he came forward to her, and dashed at one side at the last moment, completely dodging Cage.

Cage, on the other hand, ended up several meters ahead, panting. "Why won't you attack?", he inquired once more, aggresively.

"Because I also suffer that MindFlow System thing", Mikenne said, calmly. "You have a noble reason to attack, and the guts to do it. I lack those. I can't overcome what I've let them to do with me, and I can't rebel, I don't have neither the power nor the strenght to do it. And BAHRAM lost all its meaning to me. So what can I do?"

This wasn't what Cage was expecting. He had thought of an entire enemy base against him, and not a lone warrior who wanted to quit, congratulating him. Everything was upside down these days...

"Boy, look out!", Mikenne yelled at him, calling him back from his thoughts.

Cage did as Mikenne said, and dodged Amante in time, who attacked him from the back. "This was something expected from you, I should have considered it", the blue haired boy said, charging against her.

"Oh, how rude of you, to tell my defects to everyone else!", Amante mocked him. "Well, I supposse that we can let the real battle start, after my assistant Yoda became sympathetic with you", she said, sarcastically.

As a reply, Mikenne just stepped backwards, and decided to not interfere in the battle, even if that meant her death. In either case, she would try to fire at Amante, before she decided to try the MindFlow System again.

"Oh, well, she didn't like that nickname, I guess", the short, red haired eternal teenager said, uninterested. "So that makes a personal duel, just you and me, honey", she said, firing at Cage.

"Don't call me "honey", you... bitch!", Cage shouted back, letting go his hatred.

"Oh, I never thought you would say something like that", Amante said, acting sorrowfully. "Now that gets me mad, when gentlemen get out of their nerves... and for so little", she said, shooting at him.

"So little, you say?", Cage asked her, dodging her attack, but falling on the process. "Could it be that you are lonely enough to wish that everyone has to be as lonely and harmful as you are? Have you never yearn for someone who would take you out from all this mess?"

Amante laughed at that. "I've already stopped believing in blue princes, fairy tales and the like, honey", she said, stressing honey on purpose.

"However, you once hoped guys wouldn't just go out with your for your looks...", he said, recalling something lost in his mind. The last time he battled her… she had said that then…

Amante laughed. "I've said so many thing to so many people, that I can't keep count of them! Some were ture, some weren't, and now I can't tell which were true and which weren't!"

"It's so easy to tell why they just went out with you for your appearance", Cage said, charging agaist her. "You have no love, neither pity for anyone, not even for yourself!", he said, crushing his Metatron sword against the Scarmiglione.

Amante didn't have the time to evade the attack. She wasn't going to be defeated, not physically nor in the psychological way. "Pity is a word that doesn't exist in my vocabulary", she said, getting up, panting. "As for love, I've already forgotten it long ago", she said, firing at Cage.  
This time, Cage wasn't the one who couldn't dodge the attack.

Amante chuckled. "See? Love makes you weaker. You made all this mess in behalf of your test subject girlfriend, who can't recognize you when she's under the System's command. And that one over there -she pointed at Mikenne, who remained standing still- became a complete bore and an idiot when she started liking an Earthian spy"

Mikenne shot at Amante, disgusted. "I don't love him, if that's what you mean", she said, coldly. "He's been the only nicest person I've seen in years... and he deserves my respect and my help in a time like this"

Amante fired a few shots at the Ifrit, furiously. "Idiot! You don't have to attack me, but him!"

"This isn't my War, this doesn't concern me", Mikenne just said, coldly.

Before Amante tried to activate the MindFlow System or whatever thing she had in mind, Cage drew his Metatron sword once more and started hitting at the Scarmiglione, looking desperately for its core. He was eager to destruct it, or at least, to destruct that Mind controlling system for once and for all.

Amante defended herself the best she could, and tried to hit the Will, but Cage was much faster than her, and kept on striking at it. "Oh, go on, you are barely scratching me", she said, when, in fact, she was starting to get nervous for her frame's health. She managed to push and kick the Will backwards, releasing herself from Cage's imprisonment. "Sheesss... I thought you would never get out from there", she said, annoyed.

Cage glared at her, furiously. "Your companion's right. What are you fighting for? BAHRAM's almost non-existant now. Who gives you orders? Why do you to keep on fighting?"

"As if I were to tell you!", she said, shooting at him fiercely.

Cage fall on the ground, and tried to defend himself the best he could. If Pharsti had been around, she would have advised him, or planned a good strategy for him. But Pharsti was gone, and now he had to think how to save his live on his own. His life, and the life of the one he loved.

He drew his sword again, and used it to evade some shots. Slowly, he tried to stand up, but some unmanned units, recently launched, started firing at him, making him almost crumble.

Some long distances shots from behind knocked some Mummyheads and Raptors, sparing him his life. He turned back, and Cage smiled relieved.

Soon, the rest of the BIS remainings appeared, just in time to help Cage from the sudden appearance of several unmanned units.

"Cage.. when I said you had to become better than me, I didn't mean that you had to do the same stupid things!!", Ares cried out at his friend, as soon as he got close to him.

"Myona is everything I have... I can't let anyone harm her!"  
Hazel watched the entire scene silently and thoughtfully, while firing at Amante's frame like a robot. "I just wished someone would do that for me...", she thought, bitterly, while she kept on firing at the Mantis-like frame. "Someone who would do a solo mission for my sake, or someone who would protect me of doing stupid things..."

The worst part was that she already had that people around her, but she didn't realize. Cynthia and Arantxa would do anything for her, they had been advising her all that time, when they were around. As for a solo mission, she didn't have anyone, but Alen made miles and miles through the space to be with her. He even stayed longer to be with her. And the people at BIS also cared for her. She wasn't as lonely as she kept on thinking she was.

Meanwhile, Mikenne just stared at the battle she had in front of her. She evaded some shots from BIS, but she didn't bother to attack back. She wasn't in the mood to do it. She was fed up of the entire situation, and she wanted to know how was Ethan, rather than staying there, fighting for a lost, non-existant cause.

"Hey, what's wrong with that Ifrit?", Mebius asked, after she fired at it but didn't attack back.

"Don't waste your time with her", Cage said, now concentrated on the battle his hurt self had started. "She doesn't want to fight"

"Wow, that's so weird", Razma said, whistling. "I mean, she has a hell of an OF, and yet she doesn't want to fight?"

"Shut up, idiot!", Semyl replied, annoyed. "It's better this way, one enemy less to care about!"

"I wouldn't give up on her so soon", Robin said, suspiciously. "I don't trust anyone from BAHRAM"

"That's obvious, boss", Razma said. "It's just that it look so helpful"

"Watch your back, don't think she'll be standing there still forever", the leader went on ranting. "Who knows if it's not part of Amante's plan..."

"We'll try", he said, in a fierce battle against an unmanned unit. "Hell, I can't even imagine from where they got all this stuff! It's always never-ending, no matter how many times we attack them!"

"They may have a better supplier than what we used to have", Robin teased him, trying to make fun of NUT's retreat.

"Yes, I guess so", Mebius frowned, annoyed. "This is getting too tedious"

"Just pray that that Marrek madman won't appear", Hazel whispered, angstly.

"She's right... less to fight!", Semyl shouted, triumphally, while getting rid of a Mummyhead.

And so, another battle between BAHRAM and BIS went on...

* * *

Hazel's frame fall down... and Hazel felt her end was near... She had fallen down in a deep pit. After the shock of falling down, completely unaware of what was going on, as she hadn't realized there was a pit in her way, she felt angry with herself. The pit was too deep, and the walls were too slippery, she had nowhere from where she could hang on.

Ares had seen how the tall, think gray frame dissapeared out of the blue, and started looking for her. Soon, he found it, and started yelling at Hazel, "Come on, stretch your frame's arms that I'll get you out"

Hazel sighed. From all the people she wanted to save her, he was the last one.

"Leave me here!", Hazel implored, angstly. "You don't have much time left..."

"There's enought time if you help yourself", Ares said, checking his radar. He still didn't see any activity from the UNSF forces around, and the few BAHRAM units around were busy with the others. He had enough time to try to save the blue haired girl.

Hazel, on the other hand, thought that time was too scarce. It would be better to leave her behind. Her frame would explode, and that would give her comrades time to escape, and it would even distract the UNSF. It was a good idea...

"Come on, try to impulse yourself outside that pit!"

"I have already tried that!!", Hazel yelled at him, angrily. "Just what do you think I am?"

"Sorry", Ares apologized, rolling his eyes. "Give me your hand, then"

Hazel sighed. Her plan could be great, if that bastard wouldn't be around, nagging her. "I don't want to"

Ares blinked, resigned. "Come on, Hazel, don't be a stubborn crybaby and extend your frame's arm, okay? You won't be doing any good if you want to play the "martyr role" at this moment"

"Oh, because you know too much about that", she said, offended. "The former martyr gives pieces of advice to the next one... don't make me laugh"

Hazel was a tough girl, he had always know that. But when she started showing her self-sufficient attitude, she was the hardest, most stubborn person in the world. Ares just had to find a way to crack that acting shell, one of her too many shells.

"Yes, call me Master, if you want", Ares replied back, as sarcastic as her. "Now, you'll do what I say, because this is stupid"

"Sorry, Master, you know too well what stupid things are"

"Oh, yes, I do", Ares went on, in that sarcastic fencing match. "You should keep on living, rather than staying here, because you have to know what stupidity really means... Leaving you here, or letting you stay here when I could help you -I won't say save you- is one. Letting you die the same way your parents did would be another stupid thing. And since I'm your Master, I just dictate lectures, not workshops, so I won't do any of those things that I said before"

Hazel's shell cracked, finally. She trembled, touched. It was such a nice speech... it only lacked the "I love you" to be perfect... even if she wasn't sure she could love that guy. Anyway, it sounded so fine.

"Just... leave", Hazel said, closing her eyes tightly to repress her tears. "Go away, live your life and let me finish mine with a good action"

"You don't die when you want, Hazel. You just die when you have to"

And he knew rather well what that meant.

Hazel bit her upper lip, thoughtfully. He was damned too right... again. But the outside world seemed so harsh towards her. She felt she had no one outside there for her, nothing to live for. Maybe falling in that pit was just an act of mercy that Destiny had in store for her, who could tell?

"Just leave me... if this explodes, it'll give you the time to get out from here!", Hazel cried, in haste. "Come on, I don't have anything nor anyone waiting for me out there... apart from Cynthia, who doesn't really need me, and Arantxa, who already knows how to look after herself"

"There's Alen", Ares said, reluctantly. "I don't want him to come after me accussing me of letting you die when I could have prevented it"

Hazel sighed. Alen waited for her... Alen liked her... Alen wanted her to be ok... but what if she wasn't to stay alive? What could be of Alen's life with her gone? Wasn't she the sole purpose of Alen's existance? Even if he would never admit it to her...

Ares was right... but Alen wasn't there to help her. And she needed someone with her at that moment, as Alen's thought wasn't enough for her.

"If things had been different... I would have said that I also needed you", Ares added, softly. "But if I say it quite openly, you would start shouting that I'm a merciless sadistic murderer that wants to inflict you eternal pain and sorrow..."

"You don't need me... you would have needed someone like me... not like me, better than me... before you got into the Bonaparte III with the intention of sinking it... that's just what had happened to your sister...", Hazel said, after a small chuckle.

"I know... but there wasn't anyone there for me at that time", Ares said taciturnally.

Hazel didn't reply.

"At least, let me help you for what it could have been"

What could have been... The only thought of that made Hazel's heart ache. A rushing set of images crossed her mind, one after the other. Her parents before boarding the ship. Her parents back at home, smiling. Herself smiling. A Graduation photo, with her parents. University. Lots of people, unknown faces. Boring classes, exams, exciting classes. Somehow, the BIS people managed to appear, either as teachers, fellow students or passer-byes. What could have been... and what wouldn't ever be.

She sobbed, feeling the lack of justice in the entire Universe complotting against her, against Ares, against the rest of BIS. If the world was just unfair, why would she want to stay on it?

"Come on, Hazel!", Ares shouted energically. "Your parents wouldn't have wanted you to die inside the same weapon that killed them!"

"And your parents wouldn't have liked you to become a murderer, even if you had a reason!", Hazel replied, the words she had hidden deep within herself run out from her mouth.

Ares stayed frozen for a moment, in shock. He had never thought about the entire situation from that perspective. Hazel was right. But it was too late to mend his huge mistake. What was made couldn't be unmade.

"I know... but at that moment, I didn't have anyone to point me that mistake. If Pharsti had ever tried to do it, I would have either dismissed her, or I would have never really noticed", he just said, calmly.

Hazel sighed, tired.

"The only person that could have pointed out to me the great mistake I was about to make was long gone, dead at the Labs, too... so I also thought of her while planning it...", Ares went on, coldly. "I didn't have anyone like her, or like you. Only BAHRAM scheme-makers were around me at that time, and Pharsti, but she couldn't fight against all of them alone"

Hazel sighed. She could feel and understand his pain of being all alone, with the wrong people around. Who could assure her that she wouldn't have done the same if she had been in the same situation he had been? She was starting to shudder at that question. She wanted to hope that she would have been strong enough to not fall in the temptation of killing thousands of innocents for the head of a guilty one. But she couldn't say it for sure. Yet, she believed she wouldn't have done something hideous like that.

"Nothing can mend my mistake, nothing can make up all the pain I inflicted to you and the others... I still feel painful for what I had done... If you keep on living, my pain could get smaller, even if only a little bit, and it would make things a little bit easier to take and to face...

Hazel bit her lip. What if it was just another act of that evil mastermind? To be useful to someone... that could be a great excuse to go on living. But for the one who killed her parents? For Alen, who had also lost everything? For both of them? Or just for herself?

The simmilarities between Ares and Alen became more evident to her now, if she took in consideration the "what if things had been different" factor. Maybe living for one of them meant living for both of them, or for none of them. It was time to live for her own sake... but that was too damned difficult. She had already tried, and she didn't know how to do it. She needed a reason, at least for a while. Ares was giving her, and had already given her, by naming Alen, a perfect excuse: to live for someone else.

The Athenea stretched its hand reluctantly at the Vyaja... Hazel stared hopelessly at Ares... Maybe giving it a try wouldn't hurt, would it? She had already become used to pain, even if it still hurt her.

The small violet frame grabbed the long, thin and delicate arm of the Greek Goddess look-alike, and started pulling it. Soon, the Athenea grabbed those violet arms stronger, and tried to get out from its trap. She managed to stood up, but fall down instantly. The pit was far deeper than what both of them had expected.

Hazel sighed. There was no way out from this pit. From her mental one, she already knew that. From the physical one, the one she was trying to get out from, it looked the same. Maybe it was destiny, after all. At first, she didn't want to get out. Now that she wanted, she couldn't. Apparently, life wasn't going to be nice to her, not even in her last moments.

"Come on, Hazel!", Ares encouraged her, anxiously. "If you try a little harder, you can get out from it!"

Hazel tried hard to get out from the pit by herself, but she couldn't get out, no matter what. There was no use to make him waste his time. "Leave me behind! I'll try to get out from this... and if I can't, well, bad luck"

"Stop talking bullshit!", the light haired guy shouted, enraged. "Extend that damned arm to me, you hear me?"

Hazel blinked at that sudden mood change. She felt frightened... she felt his rage, and could understand the silent, yet passionate, spirit that lived behind his taciturn, cold shell. Passionate... that was the word. He wouldn't think much of the consequences of his acts. He would just act according to his feelings. He had had too many hatred, pain and sorrow at that time, and so, he acted according those. Only that he had also inflected hatred, pain and sorrow to the ones who became his circumstancial victims. Even if she couldn't totally forgive him, he could understand his pain and his point of view. She was the complete opposite, a totally analytical person.

Still frightened, Hazel decided to do what he said, and the Athenea's arm stretched gently towards his frame.

Ares stared at that long, grey arm, extended at him... and suddenly, he recalled a dark moment in his past. That arm reminded so much of a friend of his at the Labs, a girl that was always smiling and hoping, with the best suited name for her nature that he had ever heard.

"Faith...", he mumbled, numbed.

The Athenea's weak, extended arm towards him reminded him of the moment he saw Faith's arm falling from a stretcher, after a round of experiments. At first, he hoped that she would have survived, but when he noticed her blue bracelet around that wrist that belonged to a lifeless body covered by a white blanket, he knew that he had lost his best friend and support there.

Faith and Hazel couldn't be more different, psychologically-wise, but at some times, they were just the same. Faith had been cheerful and hopeful, even in that Hell that had been Zephyr's Laboratories. Hazel had always been gloomy and negative, but she had moments when she showed her cheerful side. And, in those short moments, her smile seemed so much like Faith's one. Maybe she was suppossed to be like Faith, if things had been different.

Ares sighed, realizing that it was the first time that he thought of what could have been Hazel's life if he hadn't messed up her life. He hadn't realized that maybe she could have been as sweet as Faith... In fact, this was the first time he thought that the two girls had something in common, apart of being some sort of support, in some way or another. If only he had been able to do something for that pretty teen that had helped him so much back at the Labs...

He could do nothing for Faith, but he could try to do his best to help Hazel, as a way to do his best for both of them. For Faith, who he couldn't protect. And for Hazel, who he had ruined her life during his sake of revenge. That was why he insisted so much in saving her.

"Hazel, come on, get up! Grab my hand and I'll take you out from that pit!"

Another round of shots from the few BAHRAM units hit at them, and from afar, they could already hear the UNSF units approaching them.

"Hell... we won't make it in time!", Ares shouted, nervously.

Hazel looked down, embarrassed and guilty. Why couldn't that guy leave her behind, even when she was imploring him to do so? Why couldn't he just leave her alone, at ease?

Reluctantly, she tried to stand up again. But things weren't going to be easy...

Hazel's frame fall down once again, under Ares' terrified stare. For some reason, she just couldn't stand up. Both of them, the frame and the runner, seemed to be moving in perfect sinchrony, as if they were one, as if they both wanted to stay at the battlefield, ready to die. Hazel sobbed. She just had to accept her imminent death, which could be helpful for her companions. It would be so easy. And yet... there was something that was troubling her.

Suddenly, the cockpit went completely black, and she started panting with fear. Strangely enough, she could see a tree not so far away from her. Just what the Hell was a tree doing inside a frame?, was the only thing she could think of. Then, she just thought that she had gone completely nuts.

The image came closer to the tree, and she easily recognized it: it was a chestnut tree. Then, a squirrel appeared, and, slowly, dropped the nut it was carrying. Once in the floor, the nut cracked open, and revealed its butterfly-like core... only to let go a white butterfly from it, which flew away from that image.

Hazel followed the white butterfly. Now, she didn't care if she was insane or not, if things had meaning or not. She just believed in what she was seeing. Soon, the butterfly faded, and she saw some familiar faces instead. Her mother and her father appeared, smiling at her. Melissa, Alen's sister, was there, also, winking at her and looking as cheerful as ever, even if she haven't ever met her. Lots of people were behind them. She could recognize some faces from the spaceport, before they boarded the Bonaparte III. But there were more people than the ones that could get a place in the ship. Two people, who looked remarcably like Ares and Myona called her attention. Those had to their parents, without a doubt. They looked like normal people. No one there was sad, yet they weren't extremely happy. They were just like when they were alive, if she could have met them. Ares' parents looked quite like hers... and their lives ended in a similar way, too...

Another figure that called her attention was that of a black, long haired teen girl with gorgeous purple eyes, who somehow managed to came into the spotlight, among all that people. She smiled lightly at her, hopeful and at peace. She extended her hand at her, and Hazel noticed that the girl had a blue bracelet around her wrist.

Hazel walked forward slowly, with the clear intention of joining all those people covered by a white light, who were at peace. Her parents were walking towards her, too, standing next to the purple eyed pretty girl, who looked as a leader of sorts. Melissa waved at her, and the ones who she thought that had to be Ares and Myona's parents remained in their place, staring at her.

Something was wrong, Hazel thought. If she was so close to fulfill her dream of being with her parents again, leaving behind all that sadness that was just waiting for her in the real world, why was she feeling so unease?

Instintively, she stopped walking, and her eyes filled with tears, once more. Why? Why couldn't she just take the opportunities that life or death were giving her, without any remorse, without any analysis?

Next to her, a female figure appeared. It didn't took her long enough that that woman wearing a white robe, a helmet that covered her hazel hair and that carried a shield had to be a representation of Athena, the Greek Goddess that had given its name to her frame. Finally, she could say that she wasn't mad... there had always been someone else on that frame, after all... Someone who prevented her from doing the most stupid things she could do with an OF, and someone who prevented her from leaving the frame behind at the spaceport, or to detonate it, in a way or another.

The Goddess figure smiled at Hazel, welcoming her.

"Am I dead?", Hazel asked, shocked.

"No, you aren't", the Athena rendition replied, calmly.

"Am I high on something? Does Metatron do some reaction similar to that?"

The Greek Goddess smiled lightly, understanding Hazel's strange situation. "Metatron can do too many things, and one of those could be that effect... But you aren't going through that, I can tell you"

"Then... what's up with all that people over there?", Hazel asked, angsted. "Am I not to join them?"

"No, it's not your time yet", Athena said, softly.

"Then, why are they there? If I can't join them, why should I see them?

"Let's say that they are here to show you something"

"Then, if I'm not to join them yet, then why is she extending her hand to me? Isn't that an invitation of sorts?"

"It could be... if you think it that way", Athena replied, elusive. "It could also mean that you have to get up and live on your own, too"

Hazel blinked, surprised. "I don't get it"

"You aren't really living, Hazel... you are grieving, but it's taking you so long to let go and accept your life. You built a barrier between you and the rest of the world... You became unreachable, even for yourself. If you haven't had that barrier, we would have gotten in contact sooner"

"Again, I don't understand..."

"You thought that you were just running a killing machine. But why? Just because it stepped in your life? You had lost your will to live, your goals in your life. Everything ended with your parents deaths... But you aren't the only one in the same situation... Each person deals the best she or he can with this kind of situations..."

"But why are they all here?"

"You had to see that you weren't the only one who had troubles in the Universe", Athena replied. "And before you start saying that you already knew that, I have to say that part of you knew that... the other half couldn't take it"

Hazel didn't reply. She just felt naked in front of a crowd. One thing is to think about your problems, other, quite different, is to hear about your problems from another point of view.

"You have to live... for your parents, for the Bonaparte III people, for the ones who died in encounters, in the Antilia raid, during Aumann... just for all those who don't have the chance to be alive... you have to live, you that have the opportunity..."

Hazel closed her eyes, while the tears run wildly along her cheeks. Everything that had to be said had already been said... Nothing could be done now, and now everything rested on her will... as it had always been, only that she didn't want to -or just couldn't- realize it.

"Are they here only to tell me to live?"

"Yes"

It was so shocking for her... She thought that she was living... but she wasn't really doing so. And it felt so embarrassing... even if it was just a product of her imagination, and Metatron messing with her. But she was wishing for a situation like this to happen. More than wishing, she had been waiting for it to happen, even if she knew that it was impossible that the dead ones returned to her life, even if it was in her dreams.

"So... this is my chance to say 'Farewell' to them?", she said, pointing at her parents.

Athena smiled motherly. "It's not a real Farewell... It's just a "good bye", for a little while"

Hazel sighed. Metatron was far more intelligent than what she had ever expected.

Hazel stared at her pendant, the one that Ares had given her with that music file on it. She recalled the song's title. "So this is the real Promise of Reunion'?", she asked, staring at the fake emerald setted over the button.

"If you want to take it that way, consider it a Promise. But don't live waiting for that promise to come true. Live your life, and don't rush the time to fulfill the promise. Keep it in mind, but don't make it the axis in your life"

Hazel nodded, as she stared at the button, then she looked at the purple eyed girl, who was smiling. It was as if she already knew about that song, and the one who played it.

"It's time to leave, Hazel", Athena called her softly.

Hazel stared at that crowd for the last time, but her eyes remained in her parents most of the time. She wanted to run and hug them, to tell them how much she needed them. However, there were no need for words there. In a way, she felt at peace, at long last, as if her parents were telling her how much they loved her, and that she would only have to wait a little longer before being reunited again.

Slowly, the crowd started fading, and only Athena remained visible, but it wouldn't take long before she vanished.

"Athena!", Hazel shouted, in haste.

"What's the matter?"

"Is this Metatron's real nature? Is it a friend or a foe?"

Athena sighed. "It depends on the runner. It melts with it, in a way... As I told you before, you had a barrier, so we were just a runner and a tool, not synchronized or aware of each other. I could recognize you from other people, but I couldn't do much for you. The more refined the Metatron used, the more bound to connect with its runner..."

"But then why Cynthia couldn't connect with Nike?"

"That was because Cynthia wasn't its first, original runner. Nike adopted much from Ruth, who was the first one to run it"

Hazel's eyes opened wide with the surprise. She had already forgotten that blonde woman from BAHRAM. "Unbeliavable... but she wanted you, not Nike"

"I know. In that case, I would have adopted things from her, or confronted her. It depends..."

"So, in a way, OFs "swallow" things from its runners?"

"That's right. As you humans say, we are one and our circumstances", Athena said, wisely. Slowly, her image started to fade with each second, and the frame's interior looked more detailed and brighter. The Goddess image grabbed Hazel's hands, as if that became her farewell to her. "Now, stand up and raise. Shine as you can do it. Live for all those behind... and for yourself"

Hazel felt cold as the image said that. She couldn't touch Athena's hands, but she felt them over hers.

"What remains of the battle will be tough... Maybe this will set a new start for everyone... Just trust in me and don't do anything risky, I'll take care of the situation..."

"How can I trust you? Metatron is still a killing machine, and it will always remain like that. Just think that all that people who were telling me to live for them, have died at its hands, in a way or another", Hazel said, coldly.

Athena sighed. "Is it Metatron's fault per se, or is it the ones who use it that made it a murdering machine?"

"That's the question", Hazel replied, strongly. "Many have gone insane onboard this things..."

"But you haven't! Stop being so defensive! Just trust me... I think I have given you enough reasons to trust me, haven't I?"

Hazel smiled, trusting, much to her own disbelief. "Yes, you did", she said, softly and smiling. "Besides... you are named after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom... your actions must be wise, henceforth"

Athena smiled, proudly. Hazel was right. She had to act as a her Mythological namesake would do. And even if she was just a portion of Metatron, she understood it. With Hazel, she had been given the chance to live, to see human nature. Just like the Greek mythology gods, Metatron interacted with humans, either helping them or making fun out of them. But they were much alike, despite the divine rank. While Humans thought that Metatron was just a tool for them to use, Metatron had its own plans... but who could actually tell those?

"Now, it's time to part. Go and live... for everyone", Athena said, touched.

"I'll try my best", Hazel said, her eyes closed trying to control her emotions, as she didn't want to let go that woman.

"One last thing... noticing that you don't want to let me go...", Athena said, as if she didn't want to let Hazel go, either. "You'll find me in different people... you'll find good things in many people... Cynthia's a great example. That Basque girl's also nice... and the rest of BIS. And Ares and Myona have good things, too... just as Metatron... You are no far different from them"

"Now I know...", Hazel admitted. "But the pain... it's still too soon, even if what I want most is to forgive them and live at ease"

"Get ready to fight and to escape. Things are getting worse out there", Athena commented, out of the blue.

Hazel nodded. It was time to return to the real world.

"Just trust me", Athena repeated before vanishing, and soon, Hazel found herself in her cockpit again, as if nothing had ever happened. She started wondering if she hadn't just invented all that while waiting to get shot by some enemy unit.

"Hazel, give me your hand, once more!", Ares yelled, anxiously.

To live... for her parents... for his parents... for Melissa and the others... but most importantly, for herself. Now, that didn't sound as a bad plan, at all.

The Athenea stretched its arm more and grabbed the Vjaya, and finally stood up. As Athena had told her, things were quite messy on the battlefield. Especially with Yukito and Warren out of the battlefield.

"Just what took you that long to reply?!?", Ares asked her, irritated.

Hazel blinked, perplexed. "But I... did I take too long to stand up?", she asked.

"Like an eternity", the light haired young man replied, annoyed. "I was... well, I thought you were unconscious"

"No, I wasn't", Hazel said, blushing. She just had to say the word, but she didn't want to. "Thanks for caring about me", she mumbled, finally, her eyes wide shut.

Now, it was Ares the one who was blushing. He thought he would never hear kind words coming from Hazel's mouth, meant to him. "I... It was nothing", he managed to say, shocked. "Now, let's get reunited with the others"

Slowly, the Athenea followed the small Vjaya, and soon, they were along the others, battling in that mess of bullets and Metatron shots once again, hoping that it would be the last time.

"You arrive, finally!", Razma exclaimed. "We needed some help"

"Yeah, what's this of hiding in the VIP sector, ya' two?", Semyl mocked them, comparing the pit to a disco. "We needed ya' 'ere!"

"I couldn't get out!", Hazel protested, embarrassed.

"And so, the poor little princess had been rescued by the prince in shinning OF", Mebius teased them, smiling, as she always did.

Hazel's eyes widened. That wasn't suppossed to happen. "You too, Mebius?!?", she asked, astonished. "Are you making fun out of me? I would have never expected it from you!", she added, shocked.

Mebius giggled. "Come on, it's no big deal!", she said, smiling. "I took that from all the bedtime stories I tell Lia... something had to stick in my brain!"

Ares smiled. "It's alright... but I'm quite far from being a prince... or she, a princess for that matter"

Hazel sighed. Not that he was wrong. "Thanks for saying that before I could", she said, trying to remain calm.

"You are welcome"

"Alright, glad you two are back, but come here and show how powerful your OFs are while helping me here in the front!", Cage demanded, friendly, yet severe.

Quickly, dodging Metatron beams, the two frames joined Cage in his battle against the BAHRAM unmanned units, and some ocassional shots from Mikenne and Amante.

"Glad to see you once again, bro-in-law", Cage greeted Ares. "You too, Hazel"

"Thanks", the light blue haired girl replied, while impaling an enemy unit with her Metatron sword.

"We still haven't resolved all out matters yet, Cage, so how can I leave without doing so?", Ares nagged his friend. "With your little runaway act you made my sister worried, and I've said that I wouldn't leave you at ease until you could treat her well... So I guess I'll be sticking along for a good while. You still haven't learnt much", he said, with a strange smile in his lips.

Cage knew he was just acting that up, but decided to go on. "I don't think I'll ever learn, so you'll have to stick around for a long, long time... I think"

"I wish I could, even if you learn how to deal with my sis", Ares said, wishing it hardly, but already knowing that it was a hollow wish.

Cage sighed. He knew that Ares meant that he wouldn't resist much longer. He hadn't talked about his health with Ares, but he had seen her becoming weaker and weaker, even if he wouldn't say anything, or complain at all. Besides, since Hazel pointed out his recurrent coughings, he had been following track of them, and he had noticed that they were more frequent and stronger lately.

Hazel acted as if she hadn't listened to him, but as Cage, she had also noticed his health worsening. But she was proud and stubborn, and wasn't going to give in to sympathy... until she recalled all the people inside her frame... or reflected in her mind, or whatever thing the Metatron in her frame had done to her. She recalled the pretty teenager girl with big purple eyes and the blue bracelet. It was as if she was asking her to take care, or at least to take a look at Ares for her. Maybe she would have to ask about her if she got out of the battlefield alive.

"Alright, guys, we need to talk", Robin said, from the Blade. "Twede has just told me that the UNSF is coming closer, and that he can't move the Saoshyant faster than what he's doing now. We have to retreat, but if we don't leave behind some sort of barrier, their missiles will get us, and everything would have been in vain. He's riding the Saoshyant to the closest and biggest mountain or hill around, the first thing he sees. Any ideas?"

"I could stay... The Athenea is quite strong and powerful to shield the rest of you", Hazel proposed, shyly.

"Cut it off with that suicidal-martyr wannabe speech!!", Cynthia yelled angrily from the Saoshyant, who had been able to finally connect a video link to each frame, after some struggle. "You are coming here in one piece, do you hear me?"

Hazel sighed. "Alright, mommy... I could leave the Athenea behind, then, and detonate it"

Robin rubbed her chin. "I don't think a lone frame could do much for us, as powerful as it can be"

"We could try to do what Pharsti did last time", Cage said, solemly, after a few seconds without new options..

Everyone stared at him, ready to pay attention.

"Pharsti acted as a shield to protect us from the Marlblanke Dite explosion. Thanks to that, we are still alive, safe and sound. She protected us... But we don't have a big reactor ready to explode, and our frames aren't as strong as what Testament was... so, we would have to use more than one frame as a shield"

Everyone remained silent, thoughfully.

"So, maybe, if we leave the frames here... they'll act as a shield when the UNSF starts firing and they explode...", Hazel said, summing up.

"Much like I did with my frame", Cynthia explained, smiling, from the bridge. "The only good thing I ever did with it".

"And that will give us some time to reach the Saoshyant, and get away... and with the explosion, the UNSF will either be busy with that, or they'll even loose our hint", Razma filled up the blanks.

"It could be...", Robin said, thoughtfully. She was reluctant to loose the only frames she had, but the most important thing there was to save everyone's lives. Returning with more frames would mean loosing someone in battle, while leaving them there to act as a barrier was the most sound decision if she wanted to see her fellow comrades alive. Sighing, she realized that she didn't have to think much about it. "Alright, we'll go "the Pharsti way"... let's hope that this works"

"I'll leave the Orchrist, too!", Mebius said, determined.

"No, Mebius, we can't get rid of all our OFs", Robin interrupted her, firmly. "We need at least one OF as a backup, in case BAHRAM has some other resources under their sleeve, or the UNSF's coming from another undetected way"

Mebius sighed, as Robin was right. She would have to act as the group's shield during the retreat. She just hoped that she would be able to do a good job, and that she would be able to return to Lia and Warren soon, unscratched.

"Alright, you three remain close, while I ask Twede to send someone to pick you up", Robin commanded. "The rest, keep attacking and defending. Mebius, don't do anything careless, you have to protect us till the very end"

"Ok", the blonde woman replied, nodding.

The two LEVs left, struggling against the few ummaned units around, while Mebius did her best to shield the group from mostly Amante's attacks. Mikenne randomly shot at them, and seemed to be more alert to the upcoming presence of the UNSF.

Hazel sighed. She was going to get rid of that frame, finally, and now, she seemed reluctant to leave it. She had already said her farewells to it, as well as to her family. But still, she couldn't let go of all that. It was going to take a long time, but at least she had the opportunity to see her parents once more, and that was something that most people would never get. She had to feel thankful for that. On the other hand, she just had to wait for her moment to jump off the frame and relax, as Athena said she would be taking care of everything, and to trust in her. How could she not trust a Greek Goddess? Especially if it was the Goddess of Wisdom? She had to be right. And so, Hazel's faith resided in Athena, at least for this time.

Ares didn't care much about the Vjaya's fate. It had been a loyal frame to him, but it was just that: a frame. Nothing that could save him or anything. He was more interested in getting out of the battlefield, and he was eager to try to spend his last weeks doing some normal life, if that could ever be possible for him. He wanted to go to that monolith once again, this time without any guilt in his heart, just him and his pain. He wanted to spend time with his sister and Cage, doing nothing special, chatting, seeing how they would plan their future. He wanted to say farewell to Hazel and Cynthia without any remorse, to ask them to forgive him, and to be able to chat with Hazel once more like the day they had been at the amusement park, or at the ice-rink. He also wanted to spend some time with his fellow BIS members. He wanted to play his piano-like device. He wanted to do so many things, that he was mostly sure that he wouldn't have the time to do them. He would try. Definetly, he would trying his best.

Cage wanted to jump off from the Will at the first opportunity. It was a torture to him at this point. It resembled Testament so much, that he had to control himself to not shout "Pharsti, I'm home". But it was just the shell what was like Testament. The rest was quite different, almost the opposite. He could never get comfortable inside that frame, and his battle skill was lower than when he had Pharsti. That could be because he hadn't been in contact with OFs since that time, or just because Pharsti was the one in charge of attacking and defending, and not really him. Whatever the case, he felt like an outcast in that frame. He tried his best to do well on it, but there was something missing between man and machine. So, recalling Pharsti was something more frequent and painful than what it had been until his return to Mars. He couldn't help remembering their battles together, and her commentaries, and her end... it was always bugging him, each time he found himself in the Will. Even that very day, when he decided to avenge Myona's traumatic experience, the frame had been mostly useless to him. The best thing it could do for them was burning down, in order to save them. And that was what Cage was eager to do.

* * *

Back at the Saoshyant, Cynthia studied the entire situation, silently. She would have to pat herself on the back, as making OFs explode was her idea first. Ok, she was joking at that.

Twede was in charge, trying to make the giant structure move quicker, while trying not to loose anyone in the battlefield, as well as trying to foresee when the UNSF would make their great entrance.

Arantxa played with Lia, while Warren, still bandaged and hurt, stare at the situation at the battlefield, anxiously. "This isn't fair", he said, bitterly. "I should be there, and not Mebius... or at least, I should be there, as a back-up"

Myona, who had also remained silent, said, "It's alright, Warren, they'll do it well". However, she wasn't even sure herself that she would see Cage back in one piece. She was fearing that he wouldn't get back alive from that crazy, solo assault he decided to take against BAHRAM because of her. She felt guilty for that, but she also felt honoured that Cage had decided such an action for her well-being... even if it was such a reckless thing to do.

The door slammed opened, and Yukito came, gasping for fresh air. "Sorry it took me so long!", he managed to shout, as he sat in one of the chairs, while Arantxa rushed to get him a glass of fresh water.

"It's alright", Cynthia said, smiling. "At least, you did it, unharmed"

"We are missing the point here", Warren said, seriously. "Just what are you doing here? Aren't you suppossed to be by your old man's side?"

"That's right!", Myona exclaimed, anxious. "The girls told us. How's your father?"

Yukito drank the glass of water quickly before answering back. "He's much better, I've seen him. It was a small thing, a pre-stroke, not a real one", he explained, still exhausted. "And when he saw the news about a new encounter, and saw me sitting next to him, he asked me what was I doing by his side, when I could be more useful somewhere else"

"Wow... he really backs you up", Cynthia commented, touched. She would have really wanted that kind of support from her parents, but... well, things were different. So different, that she hadn't still thought about how she was going to tell them that she wanted to become a diplomat.

"Wait... they are already on TV?", Warren screamed out, nervously. "This can't be..."

"Shit, we should have checked that before", Arantxa said, covering Lia's ears before she spoke.

"Whatever, here am I, with his blessing... so, should I get into the Justeen and try to kick some butts?", he asked, smirking.

"No, there's a change of plans", Myona said, bitterly. "What you can do know is to pick Hazel, Ares and Cage from their frames, and bring them here. The frames will stay there, making a shield, close to what Pharsti did at that time"

Yukito nodded calmly, thoughtfully. "Nice idea. Hope it works"

"That's what we are all hoping and wishing for", the purple haired young woman said, weakly.

"Alright, I'll get going... but what should I use?"

"The Edge is available, and it will be better than the Justeen. You'll have to evade shots rather well, though", Twede said. "Remember that this one doesn't have any weapon on it"

"I'll have to drive riskier than usual... that's not a big deal"

"And you should take someone along, to help you grabbing the runners into the LEV..."

"I'm going!", Warren and Myona shouted in unison, but Twede, Yukito and Cynthia denied it with their heads, shaking them.

"You two won't put a foot outside this room", Twede said, coldly. "Robin's orders"

"I don't think it's a good idea, Pops", Yukito said, convinced. "It wouldn't help you at all being there, Myona. Cage is returning, so it's just a matter of waiting for him some minutes more"

"Besides, it's a matter of common sense!", Cynthia protested. "You two have just come out from the bed, after being almost beaten up!"

"She's far too right", Arantxa joined the trio, nodding.

Warren and Myona frowned, defeated, but they knew that their friends were right. They were still too weak and emotionally unstable to face the battlefield. "Alright, then, who's going? Because Yukito can't do everything on its own", Warren asked, annoyed.

Twede was out of the question, as he was in charge of the Saoshyant. That made Cynthia or Arantxa the only possible choices available.

The two girls looked at each other, as if one was waiting that the other declined the offer to jump over the Edge. Arantxa was eager to go, but she didn't know how she would take it. It would be her first time on the battlefield for real, and she didn't know if she would act as brave and independant as she wanted to look. Cynthia, on the other hand, wanted to bid farewell to the "Martian rebel" part of her life, but wasn't too fond of the idea of getting into something close to Metatron, since the Nike didn't want to open its door after she decided to detonate it. Maybe it was better to stay behind, and check on Lia...

"Then, do you go?", Arantxa asked Cynthia, shyly.

"No, you go", the student said, smiling. "I've had enough OFs or LEVs for a long time", she explained, animated. "I don't want that thing to stop working just because I'm on it", she teased.

"Alright, let's get going, then!", the black haired woman replied with a broad smile, picking her jogging vest. "Wish me luck!", she shouted, as she followed Yukito to the Edge.

Once inside it, and already driving across the Martian wasteland, Arantxa felt that she could relate to the surroundings. The desertic area matched her spirit deep within her, vast and desolate. She felt lonely at heart, being always running away from something or someone. She just wanted a place to rest for a good while. She thought she would be able to find it in BIS, but now she didn't know if the group was going to last much longer than this battle. It was a good thing for her that she hadn't got too used to the idea...

Soon, they got to the battlefield, and the small LEV started dodging attacks the best it could. Yukito's driving became aggressive and careless, and Arantxa, even if she trusted in her companion, was scared. She had never been so close to those giant Metatron beasts... now she could assure that she would never want to be near one of them ever again in her life.

"Just promise me that you'll get me a photographer job if we get out alive from all this!", Arantxa shouted, trying to sound cool, but frightened.

Yukito chuckled. "Granted. We are getting out of this thing safe and sound!", he assured her, grinning. "And if I don't recall wrong, I think there's a vacant somewhere for a photographer..."

"Count me in, even if I don't have the diploma, yet!", Arantxa pleaded. "I'll get graduated before you can even blink!"

"Alright, alright, you don't have to jump over that so quickly", Yukito chuckled. He was sort of entertained, seeing how the strong and careless woman was actually fearful of something. He didn't say anything about it, and both of them took it as a personal promise, even if none of them spoke about it.

Soon, they got close to the three frames that were going to be left behind. At that moment, the cockpits' opened, and the three runners -Hazel, Ares and Cage- jumped from their frames. They fall to the ground, and waited for the Edge to get closer to them to pick them up.

"Yukito's Delivery Service has just arrived!", the blue-haired runner shouted friendly, as soon as the hatch opened.

Robin rolled her eyes from the Blade, tired, while Arantxa chuckled at that silly joke. "Alright, welcome to Yukito Airlines. We hope you'll enjoy your stay", she said, feeling like an air-stewardess, as she helped Ares, Hazel and Cage to get into the Edge. Once Hazel was inside, the black haired girl hugged her tightly. "You idiot! You made both Cynthia and me to worry a lot!"

Hazel smiled, as she tried to let go from her friend's furious hug. "I... sorry"

"That's the only thing you have to say, you stupid suicidal martyr wannabe?!?", Cynthia yelled at her from the Saoshyant, with tears in her eyes. "When are you going to grow up, will you ever tell me?"

Hazel recalled Athena's words, about finding her in everyone else around her. Right now, Cynthia was acting more grown up rather than Hazel, when it had always been the other way round, logically. "I... I was acting stupidly, carried away by my emotions..."

"Wow, the young woman has just discovered the powder!", Cynthia mocked her up, still annoyed. "Will I have to become your baby-sitter from now on?", she wondered, bitterly. "It was suppossed to be the other way round!"

"I... some caring and spoilery would be good for me, you know...", Hazel said, smiling lightly, teary-eyed.

"Oh... God! You are back!", Cynthia shouted, with tears in her eyes, as well. "How I wish I could be there with you to hug you!"

Hazel smiled, touched. She didn't say anything else, as she was sure that she would start crying endlessly if she did.

Arantxa walked next to her and embraced her. "Welcome back, troublemaker", she said, smiling.

Hazel nodded, her eyes red, her smile forced, yet sincere. She was too touched now to say anything.

"Next time you say you have no one out there waiting for you, you'll have a hard time with both Cynthia and me... and I wouldn't even want to think how that muscled friend of yours would say", she teased her, grinning.

"Don't ever tell him!", Hazel pleaded, her voice being a soft whisper.

"Have you heard that, guys?", the black-haired woman asked, interested. "We have a way to blackmail her, if she ever gets a huge ammount of money!"

"I'm in, whenever that happens!", Yukito joined the teasing, pleased. "A few extra bucks are always welcome"

"Just look who's talking! You could easily dispose of those extra bucks at any moment", Arantxa teased him back.

"She's right about that", Robin said, smiling, from her place at the Blade.

"Alright, I'll open a private bank. Do you need some money, Ares?"

Everyone stared at him, as if they had just recalled his existence. The light haired guy just curled his lips in a small smile and turned down the offer. "I don't know if I could ever give you the money back"

"Oh, I'll make sure you do get it back, muahahahaha", Yukito impersonated a perfect villain for the fun of it.

"Alright, now let them take a rest", Robin said, smiling at Ares and Hazel, hoping they would be looking at her. "They sure need it"

"I'm sure they won't oppose that", Arantxa winked at them.

* * *

Mikenne stared at the blue haired runner from the BIS Ifrit type frame falling into Martian ground, only to be recollected by a small and damaged back-up LEV.

That fellow Ifrit was standing in a horizontal line with a tiny violet frame and with the Athenea, which she had seen before, even if she couldn't get the chance to run it, as it was planned. She wondered what those BIS folks had in mind, leaving those valuable pieces of Metatron behind, but that was their business. It had to be some desperate measure, just what Amante did when she sent the UNSF their locations. She just hoped that their measure would be more intelligent than Amante's one.

She felt cold on her cockpit, and she couldn't tell why. Slowly, her cockpit began turning darker and darker. She didn't know what was going on. Maybe her frame was reducing its unnecesary functions, like heating and lights, to keep on fighting. She didn't care much, but it was odd for her. It was the first time it was happening to her, and she had never heard something similar before.

Two familiar figures appeared in front of her, freaking her out. She had to be agonizing, or she had completely gone nuts.

The lady, who had to be in her thirties, had red hair like Mikenne, and looked strongly like her. The man, about the same age, wore an old BAHRAM uniform, had brown hair, and was looking lovingly at her. Both of them were smiling proudly.

Those were her parents, Sadie and Gregor Reiha, as they looked by the time she was born, or a bit older. She couldn't tell well, as she had been very little when they looked that way, and the image she had of her parents was quite the opposite: severe, silent people, only thinking about the next assualt.

"What are you doing here?", Mikenne mumbled, frightened. "You can't be here, and I don't want to think that I've already started to see things..."

"Hell, that's your fault!", Gregor protested, staring at his wife. "You were always so realistic, and our little girl took that up from you!"

"And you were always the idealist, living in the moon", Sadie replied back, energically. "Look where your ideals had taken both of us"

"Not in the Moon, dear, but in our beloved Mars", Gregor's image corrected her, proudly. "For I wanted to leave a better place for my daughter and the generations to come..."

"...And you have just screwed up everything, instead", Mikenne replied, even if she was being rude to her dead parents. But it was just an image from her inner self what the frame was showing her, it couldn't be something real what was happenning to her at that very moment.

"Never better explained, even if I was part of it, as well as you are now", Sadie approved, smiling.

"Whatever... just what are you doing here?", Mikenne asked again, demandingly. "I've been in this frame for years, and this is the first time you show up. Why are you here, if you really are, and it's not my mind messing things up?"

"I thought you would guess it rather soon, with your experience within BAHRAM", her father said, teasingly. "You've heard the stories, I'm sure..."

Mikenne closed her eyes and tried to remember. That first hero on BAHRAM, Radium Lavans... his fiancee died onboard the first OF ever made, Idolo, and then, her soul was trapped in a frame that was built from the rests of Idolo. Then... could it be...?

Her dad used a certain Orbital Frame, which her mother took up as hers when he died. When her mother died, the OF was heavily damaged, and she knew that its parts must have been used in the building of new frames... nothing went to waste in BAHRAM. Then...

"So... Do I have to think that part of the Metatron used in this frame came from your orbital frame?"

They nodded in silence.

"And now, the daughter comes to use the same frame, uh?", Mikenne asked, not so enthusiastically. "I would love to believe you, but this isn't rational... What's more, this is the last thing I needed in my life..."

"No, this is what you have been looking for in your entire life", her father interrupted her. "You always wanted to see us again, and you always wondered how we would be outside the rebel forces. Here you have us"

Mikenne stayed silent, petrified by her "dad"'s correct, perfect statement.

"Well... I think you must feel really bad about how I turned up to be", Mikenne said coldly, as one tear run along her cheeck. Soon, other tears would follow the first one.

Her mother looked at her sympathetically. "What can you ask for, with parents like the ones we have been? I think you did a great job on your own... and about that surgery that Harris did on you... you were desperate. You just wanted to disappear, and after finding you all alone... I can't actually blame you for that".

"You can see that he wasn't our real friend", her father said. "He shouldn't have taken you into his experiments, if he had loved us so much as he says. Now, you can see that he only wanted to get your mother as his wife/girlfriend/occassional lover. Since he couldn't take the mother, he thought he would have a chance with the daughter"

"Guess you were right", her mother said, sighing. "He had always been such a disgusting jerk"

"Yes... even if I haven't been the best choice, either", Gregor said. He still regretted his actions, having condemmed his wife and daughter to a life of fighting and War.

"I decided to follow you", Sadie said, taking her part in the blame.

"At least, Mikenne has much better taste than what you have ever had", Gregor teased Sadie, while winking at her daughter.

Mikenne opened her mouth in awe, astonished. He was making a clear reference to Ethan... "Now you'll approve my relationship with an Earthling, just because he's more dead than alive?", Mikenne asked, trying to chuckle at the end of her sentence.

"Well... he really looked and acted like a Martian", Gregor shrugged. "He can't be a bad Earthling"

"It's just a matter of time until he awakes", her mother told her, winking.

"Do you really think he'll be ok?"

"I don't think that some cheap Metatron will be enough to end up with him. He's a tough one"

"And before you ask it, his sister wasn't that tough"

"How can you know all these things?", the red-haired runner asked, amazed.

"There's not much else to do here rather than looking what happens down", Gregor said, smiling.

"Why didn't you show up much before?!?", Mikenne shouted in tears. "I needed you back then!"

"Honey... we have always been by your side... but you've been so closed in your own drama or in some mission, that you never really noticed", Sadie replied, sweetly.

Mikenne began sobbing. Her mother's image was right. She had neglected any emotions, she had locked up all her dreams and questions, hoping to get rid of her pain. She felt a huge pain in her chest, that wouldn't go away with anything. Not even Dr Harris' surgery could take it away. It could have taken away part of her humanity, but she had taken most of it away from her before the wicked scientist even thought in using her in his experiments. The Metatron appliance in her head just made her more aware that she wasn't totally alive or human, as now anybody could dispose of her life in any way while being in her frame. She thought that, maybe physically altering herself in a surgical process she was sure she wouldn't overcome, she would get rid of everything. Unluckily for her, she survived. And her pain become greater and greater.

She promised herself to try to stay as far from the others as she could. She just had to be the war weapon she has been thought of since she was little, with her parents on BAHRAM. Ethan tried to make her realize that that was nonsense. He didn't know about the surgery, but he knew that she wanted to take her humanity out off herself. He didn't want that for her. She realized it too late... she just didn't want to harm him, as she did with so many people before. She rejected his friendship because she already considered him a friend, and didn't want to hurt him.

Leaving... leaving had been haunting her for a good while, yet she couldn't do it. Fighting was the only thing she knew. Maybe she was afraid of what could lie ahead, in the normal world. Or maybe she was just waiting for a miracle like the one she was experiencing right then.

"Now, you can quit. There's nothing else that ties you to BAHRAM", her mother told her, sweetly, reading her mind.

Mikenne's eyes opened widely, surprised. This strange meeting was turning into the most special moment in her life. She had the chance to say farewell to her parents, and now, she had the chance, the excuse and the reason to leave BAHRAM. She hadn't realized until then that she had been staying because BAHRAM was the only thing she had left from her parents, apart of being the only thing she knew well. Now, she had nothing left there. The memories of her parents would live in her, and not in the remnants of a corrupt, astray rebel force. And those memories would lie in her, and not in a piece of Metatron. Now, she was free.

"Thanks...", Mikenne finally said, tears running wildly and freely across her face, for the first time in her life. Now, she was learning to let her emotions flow. It would take a good while for her to "learn" to accept her weak points and emotions, but it would prove useful in the end.

"You shouldn't mention it. Now I feel even more pity for you and more hatred for myself, for not being there to raise you up properly, and for not giving you a real home and a real life", her mother said, angry with herself.

"I dragged both of you into this nonsense", Gregor said, bitterly. "Only that at that time, it sounded perfectly reasonable and like the best thing I could ever do for everyone"

"It's alright...", Mikenne said, smiling. "At least, I could say goodbye to you... and now, I'll be able to remember you better, Dad. You left us too soon..."

"I know, sweetheart", Gregor said, softly. "I screwed up your life, I didn't have the right to do that to you"

"It's ok... you thought it was the best for all of us"

"The power of youthful idealism... and wondrous propaganda", Sadie said, resigned.

"They made us believe we could change the world... not the world, but the Universe", he said, reminiscent. "They just changed us... they turned us into killing machines, and we accepted it willingly, without even realizing"

An uncomfortable silence filled the cockpit, and each other stared at someone else, with a slight smile in their face. The farewell was just too close.

"So... I think it's goodbye, honey", Gregor said, sighing.

"Don't think of this as a farewell, we'll always be by your side, and also in your mind and memories", Sadie said, softly.

"Don't think you'll get rid that easily of us", Gregor teased her, but he was touched.

"I know...", Mikenne said, sobbing. "Thanks for showing up, even if it was in the last minute... It was better than nothing"

"We love you, Mik", Sadie said, tossing a kiss to her only daughter. "Please forgive us... but don't forget us"

"I've already forgiven you. And I'll never forget you...!"

"Be strong, honey. Take care of yourself, and take care of that Ethan guy, too... you have my blessing, if you ever needed it", Gregor teased her, winking at her.

"Dad! I don't even know if he'll stay alive, and you are already imagining me wearing a white dress?", Mikenne protested, laughing.

Sadie cried more openly. Playing around with her daughter was one of the things that she missed of her child's life, as well as seeing her grow up. It was only her fault, and no one else was to blame, but it hurt her much.

Gregor embraced her and kissed her on her forehead, trying to calm her down. Sadie stopped crying, and tried to look calm.

"Well, I think it's time to leave", Gregor said, facing Mikenne. "Those UNSF bastards are around the corner"

"Mind your language, Greg!", Sadie protested. "I know it's kind of odd, but we should give our daughter the best side of ourselves, as she knows the worst one better"

Mikenne smiled. She wanted the moment to last forever, however, there was a doubt that wouldn't let her go if she didn't ask it. "Mom, Dad... what's the true nature of Metatron? Is it a friend or a foe?"

Sadie stared at Gregor, as if he was the one who could answer that, even if she had been the Geologist.

"Well... I think it depends on the runner..."

"Geologically, or chemically speaking, it's a weird element, not to be mistaken for a rare one, very dependant on its surroundings, and it has a strange, unique and fascinating ability to get in contact with people, in a way no other element had ever done before, not even radioactive ones. While it can kill like the latter ones, it does it in its own, strange way", Sadie explained, seriously. "As your Dad said, its effects depend on the runner, as it can be helpful for some people, and destructive for others. But my guess is that it takes the best part of the runner, for its own agenda... so is it a chemical element, or a unique being on its own, taking too many shapes to distract us? Just what is it?"

The question remained unanswered in the air, and who knew if someone would ever be able to answer it.

"In my opinion, it took the best of us, and left the basic traces of hummanity left on us... maybe with more development and knowledge of it, people will learn how to control it, and the effects will be minor, compared to what it did to us. But sometimes, one takes its humannity off oneself without any Metatron involved..."

"It may also enhance some aspect, while taking away another... we don't know, this are just wild guesses, loose hypothesis based on the little evidence gathered", Sadie said, talking as a real scientist, just what she would have been if BAHRAM hadn't come into their life.

"Do you think I've lost much of myself?", Mikenne asked, a bit frightened.

"Maybe a little... but the only positive thing I can see in it is that the three of us will be together in a way, even if the frame explodes and Metatron gets dispersed all over the planet... But you have to think that we'll always be with you, Metatron involved or not"

Mikenne nodded, smiling and touched. Having seen that side of her parents relieved her.

"Now, the moment has trully come", Gregor said, seriously. "Those... gentlemen are really around the corner this time"

"We love you, Mik... don't ever forget that, even if we haven't shown it too much when we were alive", Sadie said, feeling sorry for herself and for her daughter.

"I know, Mom... Wish me luck", she mumbled, softly.

"You'll do ok. Just be strong", Gregor said, smiling.

Mikenne sighed. Her Ifrit's cockpit was opening. Quickly, she jumped off it, before taking a look at her parents' image for the last time. She wanted to remember it well, to have it printed in her mind and soul, so she wouldn't feel lonely anymore.

Once she put her feet on Martian ground, the cockpit closed, and the Ifrit started flying off there.

"Now... it came from the dust... now it has to return to the dust", Sadie whispered.

Slowly, Mikenne's Ifrit walked and join the barrier that the BIS OFs had already formed, waiting for its sure death.

Mikenne stood on the ground, inhalating the nocive Martian atmosphere, as her former frame joined the BIS ones in its defense line. It felt so odd that air... she didn't care if she was about to die if she stayed much longer there. She felt some kind of peace she had never experienced before. Was it too bad to die there, under those circumstances?

However, right in front of her, the Scarmiglione's hatch opened, and Amante yelled at her, "Come on! Get inside!"

Mikenne stood there, reluctant to do as her boss said.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me that you are rooting the idea of becoming a rebel martyr or something like that? It wouldn't suit you, you know..."

"Oh, yes, because you are the most suited one for that role!", Mikenne stated, sarcastically.

Amante blinked at her reply. She was used to an obedient Mikenne... so this was quite a change. "Don't be an idiot and get in!"

The peace she had experienced for some seconds was shattered by Amante's appearance, so now there was no reason to die intoxicated in the Martian wasteland. Quickly, Mikenne got into the Scarmiglione, and Amante closed its hatch as the frameless runner got inside. After that, she started their retreat, in some direction opposite to both the battlefield and their former BAHRAM Hellespontos HQ. They remained silent for most of the escape.

"I thought you would like to see the UNSF frames burning", Mikenne finally said.

"I do... there's no reason to be in the front seat to see that show", Amante replied, grinning.

Mikenne bit her upper lip. "Why didn't you leave me to die in the wasteland? I mean... I've been nothing but a failure lately"

"I know", Amante said, naturally. "I know that you've been behaving quite different than what we are all used to, and I know that you were the one that managed to take that Earthling spy to some Hospital..."

Mikenne looked down, silently.

"But he's not the main problem right now, so that's why he's still alive. Besides, in his current state he wouldn't have been of much help for the Earthlings, so there wasn't a need to get rid of him... for the time being"

The red-haired runner tightened her fists with rage.

"Still... I don't know why you decided to help him... and I can't even imagine why you did it"

As Amante expected, no answer came from Mikenne.

"Alright, that's not important, that's your business", the yellow-eyed woman replied, giggling. "About loosing your Ifrit... it's a terrible loss, but we'll get another frame suited for you, with all the pretty things you need..."

Needless to say, she was making reference to the MindFlow System. In some place of Mars, some of the few, scattered members from BAHRAM must have had a copy of its manual, and the knowledge to make it work again. That reminded Mikenne of someone else...

"What about Dr Harris?"

Amante chuckled. "That old, gray man... he's at the base. Most surely he'll still be there by the time the UNSF arrives... Incredibly enough, you have just brought into our chat your next job"

Mikenne sighed. "I'll have to get rid of him, won't I?"

Amante smiled, nodding. "You are really intelligent! Gifted, I would say!"

Mikenne sighed again. She wouldn't just kill him because Amante gave her the order. She needed to make sure that no one would be able to reproduce the MindFlow System technology ever again. Was Harris the only one that had it? She didn't know. It was most sure that he wouldn't be the only one. But maybe, getting rid of the one that did have it, and with the lack of resources BAHRAM was going through... maybe there was a little hope to believe that that hideous techonology would never be available ever again.

However, something else was being left at the base. Something that could be harmful in the wrong hands. And in war, every weapon was in the wrong hands.

"What about the Minotaur?", Mikenne asked, surprised. "Are you leaving that thing behind, too?"

"Yes, there's no other way out, even if I would have prefered to keep it", Amante said, annoyed. "But there's no one else who can run it, so it's better to leave it behind. Besides... I think it will get rid of many UNSF officers when they'll try to use it. It fried up Marrek's brain, so I supposse it'll do the same with some of them. Finally, they'll have to get rid of it, as it'll be useless"

Mikenne bit her lip, anxiously. She wanted to get away from all that. That wasn't life anymore. At least, not the life she wanted for herself. There had to be something better in life rather than comploting against the entire planet and killing people.

"And what about the future?", Mikenne finally asked, uninterested.

Now it was Amante the one who sighed. She didn't really know for sure. BAHRAM was about to collapse. Apart from the remnants of Hellespontos, there were weak branches in most counties, but... she was sure that with all those branches arsenal and people, she wouldn't gather anything worthwhile. So... what was she going to do now?

"Well... we have to focus on getting away from here without being found... or there won't be any future for us", she just said, grinning.

Mikenne shrugged. She didn't care much about what Amante could say. She just wanted to leave, to find a new path for her, and to know that Ethan would be alright. He wanted him to tease her again, to care for her... like no one else had done for her before.

And so, the two red-haired women retreated from the battlefield, unnoticed among the general mess that lied in front of them.

* * *

From a long distance, the few LEVs that were now BIS' arsenal stared at the line of OFs that acted as a shield or barrier against the upcoming UNSF attack. While bidding farewell to those weapons, they rushed to the Saoshyant, hoping to get into it before the attack took place. Even if they believed blindly in the powerful shield that they had left behind, they all wanted to be safe at home. And the Saoshyant was home to them.

Quickly, they left the Caliburnus, Dreizhen and the loyal Edge behind, alongside their remaining OF, Mebius' Orcrist, and rushed to the bridge, from where they would see the outcome of their plan. Twede, meanwhile, tried to move the giant platform that hosted them as fast as he could, but still, it was going at a slow pace.

"What's that red Ifrit doing there?", Razma asked, as soon as he noticed Mikenne's frame standing next to the others.

"I have no idea", Cage said. "First, they track us down, want to screw up our lives really well... and now they want to help us?"

"Something's fishy here", Cynthia added, nodding. "Won't they try to make them all explode before expected?"

"If that's the case, we are doomed...", Yukito just stated, resigned. He wasn't being his usual self lately, but with his father's new health problems, he had more things to think about.

"No... everything will be alright", Hazel mumbled hopeful. "It just has to...", she added, thinking in Athena's promise and how much she insisted to leave things up to her.

Everyone stared at her, quite amused. Hazel wasn't the hoping type... all the contrary, she was the desperate type.

"Are you feeling well?", Razma asked, meaning it as a joke.

"I'm fine...", Hazel, replied, ashamed. Then, she turned back and faced the light-haired BIS leader. "Robin... I had a strange vision while I was inside the frame... it was really freaky, but relaxing, in the end"

Robin smiled, as motherly as she could. She grabbed Hazel from one shoulder, and tried to explain to her, "Metatron is a huge Pandora Box... Everything can happen on it. Just what did you see?"

"I saw my parents, after a really weird and I supposse that senseless "intro", and then the people onboard the Bonaparte III, and then more people, who had to be the ones killed in Zephyrs' Labs, and during encounters. And I could also talk to my frame, strangely enough. I had the Goddess of Wisdom standing in front of me..."

Robin smiled, touched. She had heard stories about Metatron, but not one where the so mysterious material went through so much effort to comfort a human. While she had heard about ADA, Jehuty's AI, and had known well Pharsti, she had never heard of anyone who had seen such a complex scene onboard.

"Do you really think I'm making this up, don't you?", Hazel asked, as soon as Robin started smiling. "You think I'm doing this to attract attention..."

"At all", Robin replied, calmly. "You wouldn't do that. You would keep things for yourself if nothing had ever changed. And since you are acting weird for your standards, I have to assume that something had happenned to you onboard that frame"

Hazel sighed. "Don't keep on repeating that, or I won't open my mouth again", she said, a bit annoyed with the new situation.

"Alright, we won't make it hard for you", Robin giggled. "About your question... Metatron is a big mystery, and anything can happen with it. The fact that you could see and hear things proves that we don't know anything about it. We knew that some AIs could talk..."

"It wouldn't be the first case", Twede got into the conversation out of the blue, but this time, nobody was surprised. "There are rumours that one of the frames built off the first one ever could reflect a lady"

"Yes, but we don't have clear evidence to agree with it", Robin interrupted him. "But now that Hazel had seen so many things and people... we could confirm that"

Hazel lowered her head, slightly embarrassed. "Athena also said that she could finally connect with me since there was a crack on my barrier, or something like that. For barrier she meant me being so centered in my own pain... and that Cynthia couldn't really control her frame because she wasn't its original runner"

Cynthia, who had followed Hazel around and had listened to the entire chat, sighed, relieved. "See? I wasn't so terrible, after all"

"Then... Metatron takes information from its first runner ever, and modelates according to it..."

"Has sense", Cage said, who had overhead the last part. "Remember Pharsti. It was as if Testament had swallen the Pharst side of Myona, and left her with amnesia"

Suddenly, the private chat was becoming a group analysis. That's how things were in the big BIS family, and Hazel understood it. She didn't got annoyed at the others for overhearing, and now felt like a fool for wanting to hide what she had seen. The others would have come to know, anyway.

"It could be, it could be...", Robin mumbled, rubbing its chin.

"I don't know what it did, but it took some of my pain away...", Hazel said, softly.

"And I just hope it had taken away that gloomy face of yours, as well as your pathetic behavior!", Cynthia outbursted, giggling, kissing her hard on the cheek. "It could be our farewell kiss if things go wrong…"

Cynthia was right, even if that sounded too pesimistic. They could all die, if the OFs shield was to break, or if the UNSF was coming from another direction. But the cards were already played, and it only remained a long wait...

Everyone stared at the screen, eager to see if the frames could actually protect them or not. Pharsti could do it, but she was also backed up by the Iblis and the gigantic Laboratory Complex, ready to blow up. Now, they just depended on four frames, but they didn't know if they would be able to resist a massive UNSF missile attack.

"There they go", Twede said, coldly. "The missiles are on their way"

No one replied, and everyone kept on staring at the screen, petrified.

"Athena, I'm counting on you...", Hazel thought, as she clinged to the button-locket that Ares had given her before. "You told me to trust in you... don't let me down"

Ares stared at Hazel, noticing how tightly she grabbed the button he had given her. He couldn't help thinking that he would like to have someone holding his hand that hard when his imminent end would come.

Slowly, the OFs started glowing. It was as if the glow went from one OF to the other, and so, a glowing barrier was formed. The missiles came, but rather than impacting on the frames and making them explode, the barrier got bigger and bigger with each missile, as if they were absorbed by the Metatron inside the frames.

"It's really like a shield", Arantxa whispered, amazed.

"The Aegis Shield", Cynthia said, smiling. "That one was Athena's shield, with Medusa's head on it"

"So, it'll reflect the missiles back?", Razma asked, recalling that Greek myth.

"Perhaps... who knows?", Robin asked, in awe.

Hazel grabbed the button tightly, smiling. Athena was right, finally. She knew what to do...

After a round of missiles, the OFs finally exploded, expanding the energetic barrier they had formed with the absorbed missiles' one. A thick, bright line started moving backwards, in the UNSF direction, while where the OFs had been, a thick cloud of fog could be seen.

Twede soon noticed that the UNSF activity dissappeared from its radar, from a moment to the other.

Slowly, the cloud of fog dissipated, and there was no trace of the frames, and no trace of the UNSF, too. But a new light showed that some UNSF untis were coming to where they were at the moment.

"Crap, can't we even take a moment to breathe?", Razma yelled, angrily.

"And what will we do now? We don't have more frames left!", Myona shouted, in tears.

"We have the Orcrist... and the Nerokerubina", Twede said, coldly.

Myona shivered just at hearing that name.

"Alright, we have that giant head... but who'll run it?", Robin asked, worried. "We can't let Myona or Ares to get close to that thing, and we don't know if anyone else will be able to run it"

"I can try", Twede said, calmly. "I've had enough experience running prototypes, so this one won't do any harm to me"

Robin stared at him silently. "Are you serious?"

"I was planning in running it halfway their route, and detonate it there. We can't keep it, and we shouldn't let anyone else have it. As for me, I can jump off the cockpit, or eject from it. I know these things well"

He was right. He had experience with rare OFs, and he had always been a decent runner. But Robin feared for his life. She didn't want to loose him.

"It's the only thing we can do", Twede said. "The Orcrist isn't powerful enough, and no one else can ride that thing"

Robin closed her eyes and nodded. "You are right... but return in one piece", she said, menacingly.

"You can bet I will", Twede said, with a little smile in his eyes.

"I can go with the Edge and pick him up", Yukito offered himself. "I've already done some delivery earlier"

In no time, Twede was already out there, in the Martian wasteland, and Yukito remained close to the giant head, for the time Twede ejected from it. Robin's secretary kept his black glasses and gloves, but left his jacket and tie at the Saoshyant, so it was quite hard to tell it was him, as it was the first time most of his companions saw him wearing his white shirt. He looked calm, even if he was really nervous. He had run dangerous frames before, but the Nerokerubina was special. Deep within himself, he was afraid of failing.

Twede finally found a suitable place to leave the Nerokerubina, somewhere close to the UNSF, yet far from the Saoshyant. He started programming the self-destruct orders. It was a pity to leave such a piece of Metatron there, but they couldn't keep it, not after Myona's incident. And they couldn't let anyone else have it. And right then, their lives were in danger. It was the best use they could give to that machine: getting rid of it while protecting them.

Robin had her eyes fixed on the screen. She was too nervous. This couldn't be happening to her. So many problems in so little time, and now, Twede out there, risking his life.

"Alright, I'm done here!"

He had to admit that the Nerokerubina was frightening, even cockpit-wise. He opened the cockpit and jump over the Edge's roof, already waiting for him as close as Yukito could place it. Soon, he was inside the Edge, and Yukito rushed at high speed back to the Saoshyant.

The UNSF units approached the place, without even imagining what they had in store. They started firing once they saw the Nerokerubina. Meanwhile, Yukito and Twede made it on time to their base, and rushed to the main room, eager to see the outcome.

Twede put on his black jacket and stood next to Robin, who just punched his arm hard, annoyed at him for making her worry, but thankful and grateful that he was back. Twede understood her actions, and couldn't help a little smile arising in his always serious face.

Back at the wasteland, it didn't took the UNSF long to damage the Nerokerubina to the point where it would self-destruct, as Twede planned it. A giant ball of fire and fog surrounded the small UNSF squad, and while some units were lost, the others retreated. When the fog dissipated, the Nerokerubina was just a pile of ashes and some burnt materials.

Everyone at BIS sighed relieved, and then let go its joy in many ways. Hazel cried and smiled at the same time, attached to her button, while Cynthia and Arantxa hugged her, shouting. Cage hugged and kissed Myona. Mebius grabbed Warren's hand, while hugging Lia, who was playing with Warren. Razma started poking hands with everyone, and almost ended up kissing Semyl, when they got too close together. Soon, the Saoshyant was a mess of shouts and cries.

Robin and Twede stared at everyone and at the screen proudly. The outcome of the battle couldn't have been better, even if Amante run away once again. But they were all safe and sound, even if they had lost NUT's back-up and some precious OFs. That meant that BIS was about to expire, and they knew it, but they weren't going to start thinking about it right at that moment, when they were alive almost by miracle.

Among the shouts and happy cries, a cold sound could be heard. Everyone became silent, and started looking everywhere for the source of that sound.

"Ares!", Myona shouted, desperately, as she run to him, as her brother laid on the ground, unconscious.

* * *

NOTES:

Well... I sort of ended up turning Mikenne into a main character, given the importance I gave her here and her chat with her parents. Had to make some common point with the entire ZoE universe. All my frames have been mute, for some reason or other, and this one was the best opportunity to make them talk.

Faith is an original character, introduced in the one-shot "Tomorrow will be a brighter day". She will also be mentioned in a couple of chapters more… which leads me to say the following: the ending is just around the corner!!

Well... I though of doing some sort of poll! If you think that I've gone nuts with the "butterfly" scene, send me a PM. If you think I'm not crazy, send me a PM as well. Hahahaha, I just want to know what do you think about this! I know, and I have learnt that lesson well, that one has to write for oneself, but a little bit of commentary about what one does doesn't hurt...

Good luck!


	26. Countdown's End

Chapter 26: Countdown's end

A group of Earth officers and generals had gathered at the UNSF base's main room, ready to make an analysis of their latest campaign. Philip Nor was among them, even if he didn't look satisfied, but resigned and defeated. The units he had launched had been lost, mostly. His men were either injured or dead. And while they could capture people on one base, the other just flew away, being obviously a moving structure.

"Don't worry, young lad", one of the higher officers told him, patting his back. "I know this is difficult to tolerate, and that it's strange to listen a comment like the one I just gave you, but at least we could gather some people from the BAHRAM facility. They have a couple of OFs and interesting units that will become ours in little time, and if we can't make them work, we'll just use its Metatron for our own units. There's also a scientist there, who used to work under Zephyrs' orders... Oh, you must not know who that Zephyrs guy was, am I wrong?", he asked, waiting expectantly for an answer.

Philip Nor just shook his head in denial. He was still too enraged with himself to talk.

"Alright, I won't get angry because you aren't talking... this time. Keep that in mind, pal", the officer warned him, friendly. "Alright, that Zephyrs guy was a madman... a scientist that used many people, mostly Martians, in some experiments involving Metatron and mind control. Most of his results were a failure, but a couple turned out well... maybe this man will cooperate with us in the future, just to evade the capital sentence"

"I see, sir", Nor finally replied, resigned. He still wanted all the Martian rebel groups down, not just one.

"About the other group, BIS...", the officer went on, satisfied. "I don't think we have to worry much about them. I don't think they'll make another appearance... at least for a good while. Whatever, people is aware of anti-Earth activities, and is quite fed up with battles and such, so I don't think they'll have the people's support... or the monetary one. Their frames were quite damaged and happened to be less in number than the last time we saw them"

Philip Nor sighed, trying to cheer himself up. It wasn't a complete failure, the mission he led. No one was that mad at him but himself.

"As I told you before, don't worry, lad", the officer told him, calmly. "You can't win every time, and you have a promising future ahead... so rest easy. If your career would be finished, they would have already told you so"

Now, that made him relax a little. It was then when he recalled his former direct superior. "What about Colonel Boer?"

"Oh, him...", the officer said, shrugging. "Last thing I know, he asked for a space ambulance, as a last wish. He's a good man, but good intentions don't take you anywhere in the military. Still, he walked a long path... so that's even better for you, lad. If he got that far, you'll get further, that's for sure"

Nor finally smiled. Now that was encouragement. And now he was eager to see what would be coming next...

* * *

Robin wiped away the tears from her eyes, violently. "It's not fair", she finally said, enraged. "We can't end like this"

Twede sighed. It was the only thing he could do to comfort her... no, it wasn't, and he knew it well. But he didn't know how to deal with that kind of stuff.

Both of them were in Robin's room, trying to understand the whole situation better. There wasn't much to understand, as everything was crystal clear.

The situation was terminal for the members of BIS. They had lost three frames in the last battle, the Durandal II was in a delicate state, and all their other units had several degrees of damage after the last encounter. NUT Ltd had decided to give them their back once more, and so, the echonomical support was gone. And without that one, the chances of reviving BIS were next to non-existant, unless some rival company decided to use them as test subjects and runners for their newly developed units.

Robin was thinking about contacting someone from a rival company. She still had her influences, and wouldn't be hard to convince any rival company to NUT to hire her and her group. She could make them believe that she was what they needed. And in fact, many companies needed NUT's knowledge and ways of working, thing that she knew well. It was her only hope.

She started dialing some phone number that crossed through her head, but Twede stopped her.

"This isn't the way to start again", he said, coldly. "If NUT betrayed us, another company won't do the less... they could behave even worse, and things could be worse for us"

Maybe he was right... but it was so painful to end up like this.

"But Twede... how are we going to make it?", Robin finally asked him, teary-eyed.

Twede bit his lip, trying to think about something. "I don't know, frankly", he finally admitted, defeated. "Maybe..."

"I know that, but I don't want to!", Robin cried, annoyed.

"But it's the only rational thing we can do, think well about it"

Now Robin bit her lip, thoughtfully. He was right. There was no other way out. She would have already found it if there was...

"Alright. It's just as you say", she finally gave in, annoyed. "Gather everyone at the main room, at the bridge, and I'll give them the news... what everyone's waiting for"

When she rose her head to check if Twede was still with her, she found herself alone in the room.

* * *

Mikenne walked slowly along the Hospital corridor, heading for the Intensive Care area, where Ethan was. She just wanted to hear some good news, after so many depressing things. She didn't expect to find him already awake and completely fine, but she did want to hear that he was improving.

She sighed. It was going to be a tough day for her. She had barely had any sleep after the battle from the day before, when she could talk and bid farewell to her parents. Now, she had to find the way to get out from BAHRAM, alive. She wanted to tell him the good news, but she didn't know how much longer the Physicians would believe that she was his fiance. She had to find a way to know his progress, without coming to the Hospital every single day.

She froze for a second when she noticed a middle-aged woman sitting next to Ethan's room. She had been so immersed in her thoughts, that she hadn't realized that there was someone ahead.

The woman stared at Mikenne, once she noticed that the footsteps had stopped. Clearly, she was Ethan's mother. They weren't too similar, but there was something in her that made Mikenne tell that. She had her already whitening hair dyed blonde, and looked sad and annoyed at the same time. Who could blame her? In a matter of weeks, she had to bury her daughter and see her remaining son going through a comma.

The woman examined Mikenne from head to toe, and remained silent.

"Hi", Mikenne said, softly. "I assume you are Ethan's mother...", she said, shyly.

"You must be Mikenne", the woman asked, bitterly.

The red-haired woman nodded silently.

"Well, I'm Margaret, Ethan's mother", she said, coldly. "So you made them believe that you were my son's fiancee so you could see him?"

"I had no other choice", Mikenne said, embarrassed. "It was that, or leaving him at the Hospital's entrance until someone noticed him. And then, I just had to know how he was doing..."

"It's alright, I wasn't going to accusse you of anything, nor I told them anything that could compromise you", Margaret said, seriously. "However... thanks for doing it. He could have lost much more time if you weren't around... and things could be worse"

Mikenne nodded silently, not knowing what to say. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"You are taking him back to Earth, aren't you?", Mikenne asked. She was trying to look calm, but she knew she was about to burst into tears at any time.

Ethan's mother nodded. "I don't think he would enjoy being here any longer. Besides, if I take him home I'll be able to see him every day. Leaving him here all alone would be the cruelest thing I could have ever done to him, and even if you were to say that you would take all responsibility for him, I can't let you do that. You were just a fellow soldier there"

"I know", the red-haired girl said, in just a string of voice.

"Don't think I hate you", the older woman said, confidently. "You did a good job taking care of him and bringing him to the hospital, but it's not your responsibility. Even if you behaved as if it really was"

"Thanks", Mikenne said, saddened.

Margaret stared at her, concerned. "I never thought I would say this, but I feel pity for you"

Mikenne glared at her briefly. "You can keep your pity, I don't need it", she replied back, annoyed. She looked like an angry, spoiled teenager arguing with her mother. Only that she wasn't a teenager anymore, and the woman in front of her wasn't her mother.

The older woman sat down next to her, sighing. "You are just too proud and stubborn to see things like they really are... or at least, as others see them. You remind me of Ruth with that attitude", she said, recalling her dead daughter sweetly.

Mikenne felt a cold chill running through her spine. She had never wanted to be compared against Ruth, and less now, that she was dead.

"I mean that I felt pity of you because you are all alone, at least you look like that", Margaret started explaining her point of view, thoughtfully. "And you took care of Ethan, and you searched for me to let me know about him, and you are still here, and you are suffering because his wicked mother came and she's taking him home, far from you... isn't it like that?", she asked, looking at her through the corner of her eye.

Mikenne sighed, looking in the opposite direction.

"I thought so", Margaret said, sipping the last remainings of coffee left in her cup.

"I can't ask anything from him...", the red-haired woman said, angry with herself. "It's just that... I'm going to miss him", she admitted, blushing. "I won't see him again in my life... and well... I guess I got used to him being around"

Margaret smiled. "You can come and visit him whenever you want... and you can call me and ask me how is he doing", she said, handind her a piece of paper.

Mikenne picked it, reluctantly. There was a phone number and an e-mail address written on it. She stared at Margaret surprised, with her mouth wide open. "You don't mean..."

"You saved my remaining child... even if you are a Martian rebel I can't give you my back after all what you had done for him...", the blonde woman said, smiling and thankful. "I never thought I was going to like Martian rebels in my life...", she said, sobbing.

Mikenne used all her strength to avoid hugging that complete, yet friendly stranger that was sitting next to her. "Just... don't tell him what I did when he awakes... if he does"

"Why not?"

"He's angry at me... and he's right..."

Margaret sighed. "Proud like his sister... now I think I know why he liked you"

Mikenne rolled her eyes. "I'm not like Ruth, we never had any point of contact"

"That's what you think...", Ethan's mother said, chuckling. "You share with her more things than what you can imagine", she added, now checking her wristwatch.

"Are you leaving today?", Mikenne asked shyly.

"Yes... tonight", Margaret said, calmly. "A friend of my late husband promised me to get me some space ambulance to take him back home... to Earth", she said, nostalgically.

Mikenne didn't reply. She knew the moment had to come, but now she thought it was too soon... She didn't want to let Ethan go. But she had no other way than to accept the fact. Especially when she wasn't related to him, and couldn't decide anything for him.

Margaret stared at her, surprised. "I thought you wouldn't mind much", she admitted, touched.

Mikenne stared at her, puzzled. "I know I'm a bit made of stone, but I had never thought that you could realize it"

Margaret smiled. "No, Ethan didn't tell me anything, well, just bits and pieces. It was my prejudice on Martians... especially rebels", she explained. "I thought that you were so used to use and dispose people, that he wouldn't mean anything to you"

"Sadly, I found out that he meant something to me too late... and I still can't tell what does he mean to me..."

Margaret caressed Mikenne's hair, sympathetically. "No opportunity of a real life, I can see...", she said, smiling lightly. "You must have such a whirlwind in your mind, that you can't even tell where are you standing"

Mikenne sighed. She was damn too right.

"Well... I've already told you that you can visit him, or at least call me to know the latest news about his health, so you shouldn't feel so down. There's nothing you can do for him now... well, if you have faith, you can pray"

Mikenne nodded. "I have to find out what faith is, first... but I'll try to at least attempt some prayers for his sake", she said, standing up. "Thanks for trying to comforting me", she thanked her, gratefully.

"You shouldn't mention it", Margaret said. "You took great care of my child... the doctors said that if he spent more time without medical attendance, he wouldn't have any hope left"

"I couldn't bring him sooner... I could have helped him more"

"You shouldn't blame yourself... at least he's still alive"

Mikenne nodded. "Would you say 'goodbye' to him for me, please?", she asked, softly.

Margaret's eyes widened. "Aren't you staying a little longer? Don't you want to see him one last time?"

Mikenne shook her head in denial. "I prefer to remember him when he was awake... besides, I have to leave", she said, looking at her wristwatch. "I stilll have some business to finish off"

"Alright, you already know how to contact me", the middle-aged woman said, smiling lightly. "We are leaving at about 8:00 PM, if you want to say goodbye once more... and if you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to call me", she said, the latter part really softly, as if she was ashamed.

Mikenne smiled broadly. "It's very kind of you..."

"Maybe we can help each other in a way, even if we are miles away...", the woman said, almost teary-eyed.

"Probably... no, hopefully", Mikenne said before leaving

Margaret stared at the red-haired young woman walking along the corridor, and couldn't think that she had many things in common with her unfortunate kids.

* * *

Ares opened his eyes slightly, weakly. He was still so sleepy and weak after all the stress he went through the last battle. Luckily, it was just that, stress. But what he saw then made him think that he was already dead.

Hazel was sitting next to him. She was staring at him with her big grey eyes, which, for the first time in months, weren't looking at him menacingly or angrily, but calmly.

Ares blinked several times, confused. "Am I already dead, or some cosmic cataclysm took place while I was sleeping that you are aren't glaring at me?", he asked her, half seriously, half teasing her.

Hazel smiled lightly. "No, you are safe and sound, for what your sister and Cage told me", she replied, calmly.

"Alright... it's good to know it... one clinges to life naturally, I guess", he said, sighing. "Whatever, it's nice seeing you here, without insulting me"

"I wanted to talk about it the last time I approached you, but then you were the one who didn't want to talk"

"You didn't choose a good moment: Myona had gone through all the Self Binder and MindFlow system again... it was quite a shock for us"

"Yes, I got to see the nasty stuff that thing made on her... and must have done on you", Hazel said, coldly.

Ares stared at her. She remained calmly. She didn't stare at him with hatred, nor seemed to have it within. Finally, she seemed quite peaceful. "Is it already over?", he asked, hopefully.

Hazel stared at him, surprised. "What? The "I hate you" phase, you mean?"

Ares nodded.  
Hazel sighed. "I don't know... I would say that much of it... yes, I've overcame most of it", she finally admitted, softly. "I can understand your position, but to a point. There was no need to blow up a Spaceship"

"I know", Ares interrupted her. "But I didn't have anyone to tell me the contrary at that time. Everyone around me wanted to sink it. But there's a slight chance that I hadn't killed your parents..."

"Let's cut it here, shall we?", Hazel said, hurt, closing her eyes tightly. "As I said, I can understand you on one hand, but I can't forgive you on the other. I'm cut in half, Ares... or Vale, I don't know how I should call you... I know nothing at this time..."

"Ares is fine", he said, quickly. "And let's leave it there, as you say..."

"It'll be better for the two of us"

"Indeed", he said. "I just wished I could have a better relationship with you in the future", he said, nostalgic.

"We can be mates, there's nothing wrong in that"

"Something like when I first met you, when we knew nothing about each other"

"That's imposible. Too much water has gone through this river"

"I know...", he said, smiling lightly. "I just let go my imagination run wild", he said, smiling, with his eyes closed.

Hazel felt like a small pain in her chest at that time. She also wanted to start anew, but she wouldn't be able to get rid of that "detail" in his past. He would have been a great support for her while Alen was still on Earth... or even...

"Ares... you know I can't love you", she said, bitterly, talking her thoughts out loud.

"I know...", Ares said. "I wasn't expecting so much from you, after screwing up your life"

"Apart from that... I just can't, for whatever reason I can't fully explain to myself", she said, clueless.

Ares thought that it was so gentle of her to not blame him again, or starting reminding himself all the wicked things he had done in the past. At least now that he was still weak and tired from the entire battle and runaway from the exploding frames.

Even if she couldn't love him, he treasured the fact that she was there, sitting next to him, trying to get interested in his poor health. It was a nice thing. He had already seen his sister and the troublemaker of Cage before -in fact, they had been the first ones he had seen when he regained his consciousness, after they had spent a long time by his side in the medical room at the Saoshyant- and Mebius and Semyl, but he hadn't expected her to come. At all.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Ares could tell that Hazel still didn't know what she was doing there, or if it was right or wrong. However, he was grateful that she was there. He treasured his incipient friendship torn into pieces by BAHRAM's manipulations. If he could at least chat with her of trivial things, he would be happy. He didn't want to spend mourning or regretting every thing he had done in the remaining time he had to live.

"I feel a bit envious of Alen", he finally said, trying to break the silent atmosphere.

"Why?"

"Well... since the first and only time I saw him, I realized that he was the image of what I could have been: he also had a younger sister, with whom he had gotten really well together, loving parents, he was even succesful at his hobby..."

"You are a wonderful piano player...", she said, smiling. "And you really understand computers just by glacing at them..."

"If you say so...", Ares said, with a little smile. "And now, he'll have you"

Hazel blinked, confused.  
"Don't misunderstand me... I also don't know if I could love you... but your company made me feel better... it also reminded me of a girl at the Labs... it reminded me of so many good things... so I don't know if I would ever love you for what you are, or for what you make me recall... However, seeing Alen, and how much he cares about you, I guess I could have learnt to love you for what you are, but that can't be..."

"No... sadly", she said. She also needed someone like him. Alen was too far away, and didn't seem to move to Mars at all. And she didn't want to return to Earth. Not now, that she had found a place where she could belong. Apart, she was still terrified of inter-space travelling, and swore to not board a spaceship in a long time.

"Not that I would have much time to find out, anyway", he said, darkly.

Hazel stared at him, concerned. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm dying, Hazel"

Hazel froze for a second. "You aren't talking seriously, are you?"

"I'm not even suppossed to be alive right now... I don't know why I'm here...", he said, weakly. "I must have died in the Marlblanke Dite explosion, and, somehow, I escaped... I'm not saying that I deserved to die there, even when I meant it, but for some reason, my OF ejected me, and then I survived the explosion. I was rescued by some patrol later, and managed to survive with some new drug cocktels", he explained. He looked at her puzzled expression, and said, "I wasn't lying to you when I said that I tried to mend my mistakes with my death"

Hazel bit her upper lip, trying to organize her thoughts. The guy she hated the most -she hated him the most? Now that one was a good question- was saying that he was dying. Should she feel happy? If so, why was she felling hollow and lost at that claim? Was he really dying, or was it just a manipulative game of his? No, he had gone too far, and he had admitted quitting from those things...

She recalled it, then. He wasn't lying.

"Then... that day when you caught me warning Cage about your coughing...?"

"Yes, I was already going down the slope", he admitted. "I'm worse... it's only a matter of time"

"A matter of time...", she repeated, lost. Then, she stared at him determined. "And there's nothing you'll do about it?"

Ares shrugged. "Why? My friends are all death from a long time ago. My sister doesn't need me anymore. Cage is already a capable person on his own, and he can take better care of Myona than what I'd ever do..."

"It's your time to live, can't you see it?", she insisted. "You can focus on yourself! You can compose music if you want! You can mend computers if that's your wish! But it's your time!", she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"And what about you?", he just said, looking at her lovingly, with a hint of pity.

Hazel grew silent and serious all of a sudden. "We weren't talking about me..."

"But you are in the same situation", he said. "Maybe that was what attracted us to each other: a mirror image..."

"Not so faithful", Hazel objected.

"A similar soul, looking for understanding in this messy world"

"Perhaps...", Hazel said, mysteriously. "Now, you should get some more sleep. I'm glad you are fine... but think about what I've told you... I'll try to do my best on my own"

"If you promise me that, I may be able to sleep well", he said. "I feel responsible for your lack of route"

Hazel sighed. "Then, I'll have to promise it, even if I can't fulfill it"

"Just try"

"You too"

* * *

Everyone gathered at the Saoshyant's main room under Robin's request, including Ares, even if he was still weak and sleepy.

Robin waited for everyone to sat down, while she remained standing, with a worried and heavy look in her face. What she was going to tell them was too difficult for her, and she was fearful of the other's reaction. If only Deckson would be around... he would surely know what to do.

"Thanks for coming, everyone", she finally said, touched. "I gathered you here because I have to tell you something... something that you must have already realized, after the last battle we had"

Silence filled the room, and that made things more difficult to her. Didn't they really know, or didn't anyone want to realize what was ahead of them?

After a small cough to break the silent atmosphere, she went on. "Guys, yesterday's battle was our last one. BIS... BIS is out of business", she said, using a business-world metaphore to make it sound less shocking.

No one said anything, but looked at each other, as if they were waiting for someone else to speak.

"Alright, it was just a matter of time", Warren said sadenned, finally.

"Yes... only that BAHRAM and the UNSF helped to bring it sooner", Robin stated, trying to repress her rage and her feeling of failure. She kept on thinking that she had failed in fulfilling Deckson's wishes and hopes. Even if it wasn't her fault, she felt responsible for it.

"It will be difficult, but it's not really a big deal", Razma said, calmly.

"How can you say that?", the light-haired leader asked him, escandalized. She couldn't understand how he did to look that calm and collected.

"You said it", Razma said, enthusiastically. "BIS isn't dead... it just stopped its military activities. It's out from that business, but not from searching Martian freedom from Earth! And what's more, we developed bounds with each other... so it will be difficult to lost contact among us"

Robin stared at him, amazed. How couldn't she realize that until then? BIS wasn't just an army group. BIS was something more. They were like family. They had each other, they trusted in each other. They weren't together just to fight an enemy. They had a cause in common, and had started to get along together, and before they all knew it, everyone had a certain place in someone else's life. Even if the fighting was over, their ideals remained, and the strong bounds built among them were that powerful that it would take more than BAHRAM and the UNSF's doing to break them. That was something that Robin had completely forgotten about when she thought that they were over. Now, she could be at ease, as Deckson's legacy wouldn't be forgotten, nor had been forgotten by the youngers.

"I'm an idiot... I can't understand how I could completely ignore that", she admitted, blushing.

"You what?!", Semyl asked her, astonished. "You don't mean that ya' thought we were only for the fightin'?"

"Well... being a businesswoman after all, I just thought about the business, not the people", she explained, embarrassed. "I was sad because I thought I would have disappointed Deckson, if he was alive, but I see that you guys caught his ideals much better than what I did"

"Old habits die hard, don't they?", Yukito asked, winking at her.

"I supposse so", she said, sighing relieved.

"Well, it's obvious that we are done in the fighting scene, but we'll keep in touch, and who knows? Maybe we'll get another way to spread our ideas", Mebius said, hopefully.

"Yes, you are right", Robin said, now back to normal. "Now we have to start thinking about starting a new life, each one of us", she added, now worried. She was completely clueless about what she could do with her future.

Everyone became silent, once more. She was right. Now, they had to think about that, first of all. It would prove troublesome for many... what was a normal life? They had been too used to the fighting and the rebel scene, that leading a city life was something completely new to them.

"Robin... if you say that BIS is out of business, what are you going to do with the LEVs and the remaining frames?", Cage finally asked, thoughtfully.

"That's a good question, Cage...", Robin sighed. "Do you want to keep one in particular?"

"I was thinking if I could borrow the Edge"

Robin blinked, surprised. "Sure, I don't think there will be a problem, but I can't imagine why would you want it"

"Well... I've been thinking... We have been travelling along many places with Myona, but we can't really decide where to stay. When Myona got hurt, I just wanted to take her away from all this, but I also miss you, guys. So, I've been thinking... I've been working in the trade business for my whole life. That's basically what I can do. So... I was thinking that starting my own delivery and errand service could be a good idea. The Edge would come really useful to me, until I can get a better, bigger transport LEV... and we would be staying around with Myona..."

Myona stared at him, pure love and gratitude showing in her eyes. She had been worried that Cage wanted to take her away from Mars as soon as she was well, but now she needed to stay. She couldn't leave Mars and her brother behind, now that she had the chance to live a normal life. She needed to know her brother as a normal brother, before he passed away.

Cage grabbed Myona's hand, without staring at her, but feeling her love.

"Well... I think it's the best option we have for it, rather than leaving it behind, getting covered by dust", Robin said, smiling. "All yours, Cage!", she said, tossing its keys to him.

"Thanks!", Cage said, grabbing them with his spare hand. "I'll take great care of it"

"I'm sure you will", she said, smiling. "I won't hand the Blade over, though. I have my own plans for it"

Ares also stared at his friend, proudly. Slowly, yet firmly, Cage stopped being "a nuisance" to turn into a responsable young man, who could deal with his problems well, as well as trying to be of some help to others. And he also found a way to use his past in a good, "lucrative" way. That was enough reason to feel proud and admiration for someone. It could also lead to envy, those feelings... But who could feel envy of someone who had learnt, the hard way, a path to his or her own liberation from the past? Envy would mean that the person feeling that way wasn't going to move a finger to change his or her situation. Ares was determined to kill off his ghosts of the past, even if he had little time to live.

Now, he stared at Hazel, who was smiling lightly, lost in her thoughts, as usual. Could she also be able to get past her ghosts and bounds to the past? Would he be able to see her well? As much as she was the negative version of Faith, he knew that Hazel could become close to a less negative, more faithful version of his deceased friend. And even if she wasn't like Faith, contradicting the idea that had stuck his mind during the last battle, he wanted to see her well. He would do the best he could to help her, just as he had told himself before the entire past came back to them as an explosion.

"Well, in that case, I think I'll return to the orphanage to be of some help", Razma said, shrugging.

"Me too", Semyl joined him. "I have to take care of the kids, ya' know". Then, she became silent and thoughtful for a while, until she faced Myona. "Then, you aren't leaving this time?", she asked, her eyes wide open with joy.

"No... apparently not", Myona said softly, looking at Cage, smiling broadly.

"Yay!! It'll be much more fun this time!", she said, hugging her tightly, mad with joy. "And you'll be able to help at the orphanage, too!"

"I guess I'll have to pass", Cage said. "Remember that Jojo has some kind of crush on me... and I don't want any kind of problems"  
"I don't know why do you say that", Myona stated, acting innocently.

"I assume that you and Razma are staying at the orphanage?", Robin asked the short girl.

"If there's no other way out... I'll have to part with the Idiot", Semyl said, resigned.

"Act as if you don't like it", Razma teased her, chuckling.

"Why, youuuuu!!!", the red-haired girl glared at him, embarrassed.

"Well, those two are fine. Nothing has changed", Robin said, relieved. "Yukito, what about you?"

"I'll have to go and assist my family with the media holding, now that my father is hospitalized. And even if he recovers quickly, it'll take him a while to return to work... if he returns, and doesn't decide to retire", the green haired man said, much to his disappointment.

"I see..."

"I... we... don't know", Mebius said, staring at both Lia and Warren. "I think we'll stay as much as we can here, helping you to wrap all this up... and then, we'll see what we'll do"

Warren nodded in agreement. It was the best thing they could do.

"Thanks, guys, I really appreciate it", Robin thanked them, from the bottom of her heart.

"And what will you and Twede do?", Razma asked, curious.

Robin sighed. "Now, that's a good question, isn't it, Twede?"

"Sadly, it is", her secretary joined her, resigned. It was going to be a difficult time, the future.

"To begin with, I think we'll go for a big, important indemnization from NUT. We deserve it. Not many people decides to return to them when they had already been back-stabbed by them"

"We could just threaten them to sing like a canary in front of the UNSF, so consider the money a fact", Twede teased her.

"Yes, you are right at that... now, what should I do with it? Some good holidays sound fine... are you on it, Twede?"

"If there's no other way out", he said, shrugging.

"God, she's offering you holidays, and you just say 'if there's no way out'?!", Myona asked him, enraged.

"Alright, alright... I'm no good with words", Twede excused himself, shrugging.

"No, not with words, but you excel in other things", Robin said, smiling mysteriously.

Everyone stared at them, surprised. It was not an usual sight, having Robin teasing Twede... and the latter one blushing. Could it really be...?  
"Just what do you mean by that?", Razma finally asked, trying to get out from his amazement.

"Oh, he's a great secretary... he always gets the job done before even asking him to do it... he saves the day in unusual ways...", she started describing, and stopped when noticed that everyone seemed dissappointed. "Just what were you thinking I was making reference to?", she asked, entertained with the whole situation.

"Well... something a bit more... spicy", Yukito said, chuckling.

Robin burst into laughter. "Sorry folks, but I won't make a press conference about my private life", she said, funnily.

Twede sighed relieved, as the others seemed okay with Robin's explanation.

"What about you, girls?", Robin finally asked, staring at Hazel, Cynthia and Arantxa. She just had to get out from the sticky situation she drove herself into.

The three friends stared at each other, as if they were expecting the other to have the answer.

Finally, Cynthia spoke. "Well... I wasn't of much use here, lately... Well, maybe I was never much help but trouble. Whatever, thanks for bearing with me", she started, hesitant. "I have to return to my own life. This... this had been fun, in a way, and it also showed me a way I could try to help -this time being a real help, I don't plan to become a kidnapped Diplomat-, so... I'm leaving, but I'll be around in a way", she said, smiling broadly.

"That would be a smart move, to have someone from BIS at the Congress or the United Planets", Yukito stated, smiling.

"Well, I can't guarantee it, but I'll do my best!", the student exclaimed, enthusiastically.

Arantxa came next. "It's just unbelievable... you foresaw it yesterday's morning", she teased Yukito, who stared at her without knowing what she was talking about. "I mean, you said that nothing lasts forever, and that this would be quite silent with us gone... I also hope you'll keep your promise and get me a job at your media holding!"

Yukito rolled his eyes, sighing. "I've already told you I'll do my best to get you a photographer position..."

"Glad you keep that in mind!", she went on with the teasing, happy. But even if she was trying to look happy and relaxed, something was troubling her.

"And what about you, Hazel?", Robin finally asked.

Hazel remained silent for a moment. Now, that was a good question, but she didn't want anyone else to notice that she was clueless about her own future.  
She smiled lightly, trying to look confident. "Well, since the girls are also leaving... and since I don't have an OF anymore... I don't have anything else to do here", she said, politely. "I mean... I can't fight for Mars independance when I don't know what I want to do with my own life"

There, she admitted it.

Robin smiled. "It's alright. We'll all keep in contact, and... who knows? Maybe someday we'll get the chance to fight again"

"I'll try my best to stop any stupid bloodshed", Cynthia stated, quickly. "Even if I only got to become some Diplomat's secretary... I can make him miss some important and tricky meeting", she said, winking.

Robin laughed. "You won't be much helpful when you'll get fired, once they find out"

Cynthia shrugged. "Well, I think I was driven by the naive, fresh innocence and idealism of the beginners, wasn't I?", she asked, ashamed of her childish commentary.

"Don't feel bad for that", Mebius told her, sweetly. "Everyone has those outbursts from time to time"

"While you keep them, everything's fine", Yukito added.

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better, folks"

Robin sighed. "Well... so that makes all of us. Each one taking a different path, and only the youngsters know what they want! Isn't this ironic?", she asked, worried. "I just hope BAHRAM is doing much worse than what we are doing now..."

"Take it for granted", Yukito said smiling.

* * *

Harris was waiting in the meeting room at the UNSF prison on Hellespontos. He had been told that his attorney wanted to have a few words with him, but he had no idea of who it could be.

The door opened, and he could see a guard showing the way to a tall, blonde woman. She was wearing a grey suit and carried a black suitcase. He had never seen her before in her life. Once she was inside, the guard closed the door and left the place.

Harris examined the visitor, who stared at him, waiting for some greeting. It took him a while to tell who it was, with that odd outfit and the blonde wig.

"My dear Mikenne, you have come to pay me a visit!", the old Doctor exclaimed cheerfully, happy to see the young woman, instead of Amante. "I knew you couldn't really hate me, being me the only one who still remembers your parents!"

"That has nothing to do with you or me. You never did anything in their name for me, nor you prevented them to become what they turn into later", she just said, coldly.

"Well... they wouldn't have listen to me. They were too absorted in the Martian revolution thing", Harris said, nervously. "They were idealists... I never cared much for that stuff"

"I know... you never cared much about anything that didn't concern you"

Harris looked at her puzzled. "Those are piercing words, little Mikenne"

"Don't call me like that!", Mikenne roared. "I'm not little anymore, and you don't deserve me to call me by any petname, if I had one!"

Harris chuckled. "Bitter and cold, like always... like your mother, too"

"Thanks, if that's a compliment", she said, opening her suitcase and looking for some things inside it.

Harris stared at her, silently, yet entertained by her outburst of rage. Mikenne was so unpredictable that it was funny to him. She was just like a child angry with one of her parents, to him.

However, she didn't feel that way.

"Let's finish with this for once and for all, shall we?", she said, turning back and picking something from her suitcase.

"What do you mean by that?", he asked, terrified. He knew something good wasn't going to come after Mikenne's visit, after all.

She took a cup and some water from her suitcase, and poured some water on it, under the scientist's concerned look. Then, she put some powder on the glass, and handed it over to him.

Harris stared at it, disgusted. "You don't mean... you don't mean that you've come to take me out of the way... this way...?"

Mikenne sighed, bored. "Don't be so melodramatic and drink it. Life's not fair... and the ironic thing is that you used to say that before preparing your subjects before the interventions..."

Harris glared at her. How could she be so cold? How could she be acting so much like Amante? Did that other slut mind-controlled Mikenne before telling her to meet him? Or was something that Mikenne did on her own?

"I'm not as cold and sadistic as you were when you were doing your Metatron research on human bodies. Those kids that went through the surgery before I did deserved respect and sympathy... which you don't know what they mean"

"I have to remind you that you accepted it willingly...", Harris defended himself.

"Because I thought I was going to die there!", Mikenne interrupted him, angrily. "I was left all alone, nobody liked me, I was nothing more than a weapon... in my despair, that was the only way out I could see"

"And you survived...", Harris chuckled. "And you did really well... your already good skills got better with the help of the Self-binder and the MindFlow systems. You reached results close to those of Zephyrs, my superior back when I was in the UNSF", he recalled, fondly and proudly.

Mikenne's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't know that detail. "You mean... you have been working for Earth first?"

Harris sighed. "Yes... I was an spy. I've been working for BAHRAM for a long time, and when things went wrong on the UNSF side, I just vanished. Not that anyone must have missed me much there"

"And so, you used someone else's technique on us, after getting the data directly, watching the entire process... I thought that you had to go through the trouble of desciphering what Zephyrs wanted to do, and not that you had been handed everything on a silver tray", she said, disappointed.

"Alright, I'll admit it in this confession-like state: I was nothing but a looser, a fraud. Someone who was just into things for the money, not even for the prestige. I don't care about revolutions and wars, and I don't believe in Peace. I guess I should have foreseen this ending coming towards me", he said, grabbing the glass.

Right about it, he drank the fluid from one sip, under Mikenne's cautious look. Once he finished it, he slammed it on the table and looked at her defiantly.

"Happy? I'd been a good kid and drank it all"

"Just what we expected from you", the red-haired youth said, picking the glass and putting it back on her suitcase. She took a look at her wristwatch: the visit was about to end, and she wanted to be ready before the guard showed up. "Well, I think it's everything"

"For me, it is", the physician said, bitterly.

"Don't hate me as much as I do for this. You knew that this would have happened. Me, Amante, someone else... someone would have done it, eventually", she said, sort of apologizing. Maybe that wasn't the way she wanted to finish things off with that man, but there was no other way in their world.

"Yes, I know that you are all afraid that I may start shouting about their activities and all..."

"You have just said that you worked for Earth while being a BAHRAM spy, and that you would have done anything for money... then, there's no guarantee that you wouldn't keep your mouth shut about us"

"I would have, who knows?", the physician tried to flourish Mikenne's guilty feelings.

"You would have started singing like a little bird if they offered you some job, or at least, no prision", Mikenne said, calmly. "When one wants to live so badly, there are no loyalties nor obstacles ahead"

Right then, the door opened, and a guard appeared, ready to take Mikenne away.

"Then, I'll keep in contact with you to tell you the outcome of the legal course", she said, impersonating the attorney once more.

"I'll be waiting for your reply", Harris said, coldly. "Farewell, till then"

Quickly, Mikenne left the prison, and started her way back to the base.

In a couple of hours, Harris died.

* * *

The girls were at the hangar, carrying their wares. They had already bid their goodbyes to the other BIS members, and while everyone else was busy with their own business, they thought they didn't need to spend more time at the Saoshyant. Their cycle there was over, there was no need to stay any longer... that would have only made them more vulnerable to the "goodbye" scene.

"Well... it's over", Hazel said, staring at the hangar, thinking in the first day she had seen it... and it seemed so long ago.

"Yes, the little rebel adventure is over...", Cynthia said, sighing. She wasn't too happy, but she wasn't so sad, either. She was feeling strange. Just that.

"Now it's time to focus in our future...", Arantxa stated, smiling. "What are you going to do, Haz?", she asked, eagerly to know well what the light-blue-haired girl had in mind. She had been really ellusive about her future, and the black-haired girl was hoping that she would finally say something among them.

"Oh, I still don't know", Hazel just replied, uninterested. She kept on looking at the hangar, as if she was bidding it farewell and wanted to imprint every single meter on her mind forever. "I can't believe that it's really over... it feels like a life-time, and still... it was so little time, actually"

Cynthia nodded. Time flew for her, too.

"And what about you, Ara?", Hazel asked, staring at the remaining LEVs and the remnants of the OFs. Robin was right about taking BIS out of the fight. Everything was damaged, important frames were lost... and no monetary backup available.

"Yukito fulfilled his promise, that is, he got me a job as an apprentice to a photographer for the Martian Geographic, which -surprise, surprise!- belongs to his father's media holding. Can you believe it?", the black-haired chick proclaimed proudly and triumphally. "I can't wait to grab a camera, a real one... it's been so long", she said, nostalgic. "What are you going to do?", she asked now, facing Hazel.

"I don't know... what are you going to do now, Cynt?", the light blue haired girl evaded the question quickly, once again.

"Guess I'll condemn myself to death and to my parents' eternal anger and will become a Diplomat, after all", she said, giggling. "I can already see them thinking that letting me studying Fashion Design would have been much better, but I've already made up my mind and I'll try the diplomatic way to add my little grain of sand to save the world. The rebel path is too intense to me... but I've enjoyed it as much as I could!", she exclaimed, not regretting anything in her short life.

"And you are condemning me to capital punishment, as well, as my dear aunt Jane will jump over my throat if she ever gets to see me again, as everything is my fault", Hazel teased her. "So forget my existance, or, at least, don't think I'll ever go around your house, again"

"I'll tell them it was something I picked up from school... and in part it is, as I'm dead sick of hearing that "Oh, so Glorious Earth is right, while Oh, so Filthy Martians aren't!"", she said, annoyed.

"Quite the model student we have here", Ara teased her, laughing. Then, she turned to Hazel, impatiently. "Well... what about you?", Arantxa asked Hazel once more, as she had been evading the subject constantly with her questions.

Hazel looked down, shyly. "I don't know... return home, to start with. Then... do some tidying up, as everything must be a mess... And after that... I'm clueless"

"Well, at least she can admit it", Arantxa said, smiling. "That's a good start"

"Where are you going to live, Ara?", Hazel asked, after some silent moments.

Arantxa blinked. "I guess I'll return to some hotel... It's been nice to have a real room for myself while it lasted. But I'm sure that I'll soon be able to rent an apartment, now that I'll be working for such a big company", she smiled, thinking in her promising future.

"Wouldn't you like to live with me? For a couple of months, at least... We could share the rent...", the light-blue haired girl offered.

Arantxa smiled gratefully, but started shaking her head in denial. "It's a great, wondrous and generous offer, but I'll have to turn it down. But thanks, anyway"

Hazel's eyes widened, as she was sure her friend would accept her offer. "But... why?", she finally asked, still puzzled.

"You need to spend time on your own, Haz...", Arantxa said, naturally. "I'll just be a burden. And remember that I have a special gift for getting into trouble"

"That's no problem. I have that sort of magnetism myself, too"

Arantxa chuckled. "Then, it would just be a catastrophe if we were to live together"

Hazel frowned, disappointed. "I thought you were going to accept it"

"Don't press much further, or I'll give in!", the black-haired girl moaned. "I have to go through my own path by my own, too. Besides, if I'm really going to work as a photographer, I won't be in the city too much. So it's the same if I move to your home or not, because I will barely be here"

"Alright, it was just surprising to me", Hazel said, calmly.

"Then, can I move in with you?", Cynthia asked, excited.

"No", Hazel said, coldly. "Your mother will kill me if you do that"

Cynthia moaned. "That's not fair! Why does my mother have to show up at any moment when she's not present at all?"

"Because you are still under-age... and because I want to keep a good relationship with her, even if I don't treat her at all", her cousin replied, shrugging.

"Alright... You'll end up begging me to move to your home to help you pay the bills, and I'll refuse!", the student teased her, acting annoyed.

"You are such a charming person...", Hazel stated sarcastically, sighing.

"At your service!", Cynthia went on teasing, before hugging her sweetly.

Ara laughed at the scene, entertained. "You are quite a pair... I wished I had a younger cousin, with the nice relationship you two have"

The cousins blushed, not being used to get praised like that.

"Hey, don't stop behaving like that, I was enjoying it!", Ara protested, funnily. "Don't let anyone ruin your relationship... it wouldn't be fair"

The cousins stared at each other through the corner of their eyes, touched.

"Oh... now you two look way too cute like that!", Arantxa went on with the teasing, laughing.

"Just shut up", Hazel glared at her, embarrassed.

"I second that", Cynthia said, sighing.

"Alright, no need to become violent", the black-haired woman said, smiling.

They walked a few steps, getting near their respective civilian LEVs. While Hazel's look quite like an ordinary early 21th century car, Arantxa's LEV was reminiscent of a jeep or van.

"Do you need me to drive you home?", Hazel asked, leaving her things in her civilian LEV.

"No, I'll meet some friends somewhere else. Ara told me she would take me there, it's on her way home", Cynthia said, smiling.

"So you'll leave me alone before I get home?", Hazel said, dissappointed.

"Aha", her cousin nodded, smiling.

"That's not fair...", Hazel mumbled.

"Hey, who said that life was?", Arantxa asked, grinning. "Besides, you had asked several times before that you wanted to be alone... so take that!", she teased her, excited.

"I haven't thought it that way!", Cynthia exclaimed, amazed. "She's right, even if I hate to admit it! Let's go, Ara, before I feel sorry for leaving her all alone!"

Hazel frowned. "You can keep your pity and sorrow for yourself. I don't need those"

"I already know that well!", Cynthia said. "Don't worry, tomorrow I'll go to your place just after school. And I'll help you to decorate that small apartment again... you need some better taste in your decoration"

"That's the only thing that you share with your mother: trying to organize someone else's life, even if it's just in the taste department", Hazel sighed.

"Maybe... but that's quite handy, and I don't regret it"

"Alright, I'll show up later, for dinner... I'll buy some pizzas on the way, so don't cook anything", Arantxa said, decided. "We have to inaugurate that newly built apartment somehow, you know"

Hazel was touched, and she couldn't hid it anymore.

"Silly, don't tell us that you thought that we were going to leave you behind? We won't be 24/7 at your side, but we'll remain close!", Ara said, embracing her.

Hazel nodded, repressing a little sob.

"Oh, my God... she's really moved", Cynthia said, astonished. She was used to her cousin crying because she was sad, desperate or angry... but not because she was happy! She should have expected that, though.

"I'm alright, I'm fine... I'm just touched by everything... don't mind me", Hazel mumbled, embarrassed.

"It's alright. Now, just think in getting home and start cleaning all that mess, that I like my friend's houses to be clean and tidy when I visit them", Arantxa teased her, winking.

"Great... now I have to do the maid work", Hazel stated sarcastically. "Well, I'm ready, what about you?"

"Almost ready", Cynthia said, pushing one of Arantxa's bags into the black-haired girl's LEV. "Who would have said it? She joined last, and she was the one with most things scattered all around the Saoshyant..."

"Well, one never knows what will ready need and when, do we?"

"Alright, but you almost brought your own matress!", the student complained, tired.

"I wish I could have brought that one! It's particullary comfortable!", Ara complained, saddened. "Well, we are ready"

Cynthia smiled, then stared at Hazel, calmly.

"Why are you staring at me like that?", she asked, embarrassed.

"I wondered if you don't want to bid some special goodbye or something like that...", she said, shyly.

Hazel leant her head on the foamy seat. "No", she said, after a while. "We have already talked before. There's no need to make it look as something else..."

"Alright, then… let's go!", Arantxa said, opening the Saoshyant's hatch

Slowly, they left the Saoshyant, and headed for the city, while the Saoshyant's hatch close slowly.

* * *

Ares was resting in his room, when his sister and his best friend came in, eager to see how he was doing and to entertain him a bit. He felt weak, so he decided to stay in bed after Robin's reunion. After chatting with them, and seeing the couple so happy, he couldn't repress certain thoughts he didn't want to let go. He didn't want to look touched or vulnerable, not even to his sister, not even after all those years. But life was only one, and one never knows when it will be the last time, so he decided to let go his feelings this time.

"Maybe I was given another chance to be able to see that everything was on its right way...", Ares said, weakly. "You have proved yourself to be the right guy for my sister, Cage, while she had proven that she's strong and capable of doing everything for the ones she loves"

The couple stared at each other, lovingly. Having Ares' sort of blessing was like the final step in their already consolidated couple.

"If only you had someone like I do by your side...", Myona thought bitterly, feeling sorry for her brother. He would have made a nice couple with Hazel, maybe. It was just a pity that things turned out the way they did. There was no hope there, obviously. But she had to ask him, she couldn't resist it any longer.

"Would you have liked to have some sort of romantic relationship with Hazel?", she finally asked him, shyly. She had been wanting to ask him that for a long time.

Ares smiled lightly. "I think it would have been nice. Everyone needs someone to love, and everyone needs to feel loved. At first, I thought that both of us were in that situation. I don't know if it would have worked out well or not. Then... well, she realized she couldn't love me for what I've done, and I realized that, well... maybe she wasn't the right one. She would always doubt me, even if she didn't realize it. And I would have always been thinking that she didn't deserve me, or something like that... Hopefully for both of us, Alen appeared"

"But they aren't still dating", Cage observed.

Ares sighed. "It will be only a matter of time... The same would have happened if Faith was still alive and was to appear in my life again"

Myona almost let go a cry. "Have you been thinking about Faith, lately?"

"A lot", he just replied. "She would have want me, want us, to be free and live the most normal way we could", he said. "What we did was just the contrary", he said, smiling taciturnally.

"Who's Faith?", Cage asked, surprised. He had never heard that name before, and this was starting to get interesting. He had never heard Ares talking about some girl from his past.

"She was another girl at Zephyr's labs, who was closed to my brother and I", Myona explained.

"A gorgeous brunnete of purplish eyes who was always happy to be alive and looked at the future hopefuly", Ares expanded the description, proudly. "I've never understood how she did that. She was pure strength. Her name was the best match I've ever heard of... well, apart from the name that Jimmer gave me and that I sticked to"

"And... this girl...?", Cage wanted to ask if she was dead, but didn't know how to ask it without hurting his friend and his girlfriend.

"Yeah... one of Zephyrs' failed attempts of hyperalignement, I guess. She was only thirteen or fourteen at that time... maybe more. I can't really recall well. Time there moved in a different way than outside"

"So she was your first girlfriend", Cage said, smiling.

"Well... I don't think I could address her grilfriend, but she was too important to me there"

"Oh, come on! You were always together, and even had some promises for the future!", Myona teased him, but then, she would have liked to bit her tongue before speaking.

Ares noticed that. "It's ok, don't feel guilty. I'll manage to fulfill those promises, in a way... I can still play the virtual piano, so I don't think it'll be that difficult to play a real one...", he said, sighing. "Alright, it'll be difficult", he admitted, realizing his fragile state. "But since she's not with us anymore, it doesn't matter if I completely fulfill the promise or try to do something close to it"

"It's alright, she'd understand you", Myona said, smiling.

"Not really", Ares said, saddened. "She would have found any way to fulfill any promise, even the smallest one. I've already forgot my promises to her before, so now I have to, at least, fulfill that one"

"Don't worry. You'll be ok, and you'll be able to play some piano, I'm sure", his sister said, smiling broadly.

Ares looked at her, hopefully. "Do you really think so?"

"Surely!"

Cage, who had been listening to the entire conversation puzzled, finally asked, "Excuse me... but what is that kind of promise you keep talking about like? I'm a bit lost in this chat, you know..."

Myona covered her mouth ashamed after listening to her boyfriend. "Sorry, honey, I got completely carried away by the enthusiasm and the memories brought back"  
"I understand that"

Ares chuckled. "Alright, to sum it up, that girl was the one who encouraged most of us there. She was a great friend of mine, and she kept on making promises with me to fulfill once we were out of the Labs. We wanted to lead normal lives, but one special promise concerned her dancing ballet, to a piece of music composed by me..."

"Wow, so you've been music-gifted your entire life?", Cage asked amazed, proud of his friend.

Ares blushed. "Sort of", he said, shyly. "Let's just say that I've got a good ear. So, one day, talking about our abilities, we came to that conclusion, and she came with that promise."

Silence filled the room, once more. Ares let go a deep sigh, as she recalled her.

"Faith was a gorgeous girl with special eyes, but her spirit was the most beautiful thing she had. She always used to say "Tomorrow will be a brighter day"... Her faith in everything was really big... and she also made fun of the fact that the Labs were such a dark place with that phrase", he said, remembering her well. "I envied her strength. I still can't believe how she didn't make it"

Myona nodded. She always looked cheerful and strong, with a blind faith in a nice, promising future. At least, that's how she recalled her. She may have had some crisis, but she was hopeful, most of the time.

"However... back to Hazel, we have already discussed it... She can't really forgive me for what I had done. She can understand me, and part of her says that she has forgiven me, but the other... well... she just can't", he explained, slowly. "Not that I can blame her. I've already spent too much time hating myself to expect someone to love me without any complaints and full acceptance after my hideous past"

"It's not your entire past that she hates... just a small, yet big moment", Myona said, looking down.

"I know, sis... but it's the same, all in all", he said, heavily.

The three of them remained silent, not really knowing what to say. Was that all? Was everything really over? Or was it just beginning?

Beginnings... most of them take place after a long, traumatic countdown. Others are so subtle that you only realize that things had happened a while after they are over. For the three of them in that room, things were just beginning, once more.

"It's strange that you decided to stay... If you are doing it for me, I don't want to become a burden, so go away", Ares ordered them, annoyed. He had been thinking about them staying while they were silent. He was really thankful that they decided to stay for him, but he couldn't let them do that. He didn't want them to stay because they felt pity for him.

"Do you think I can go anywhere with you in this state?", Myona asked him calmly, much to her own amazement.

Ares took a look at himself, bed-ridden. He was too thin. He coughed hardly, with a strange sound, and sometimes he spat blood, even. He felt tired most of the time. And he had made a great job covering it all up. Now, looked where that got him.

He sighed. He hated to trouble other people. "I know, sis... but I don't want you to waste your time with me. I know I'm gonna die, and I don't want to hurt you even more than what I've already done"

"I know", she said, teary-eyed. "That's why I can't leave. I want to be with you till the very end. To be able to remember you well in every aspect, and to pay you back in some way for the great care you had with me when we were at Zephyr's Labs... Now, it's my turn to do something for you"

Ares remained silent. He couldn't argue with her, and seeing her with tears in her eyes made his heart ache. If she felt that way, he couldn't do anything against it. Let it be, it could even be fun.

Finally, he smiled lightly. "Alright, I'll let you waste your time with me... as long as Cage is fine with this"

"Actually, we were in complete agreement about this. We were planning to move away after I recovered from the MindFlow System effect. But without asking me, he decided to start the delivery service, just because he knew I wouldn't be able to go anywhere with you in this state"

"That's completely true", Cage said. "You were, and still are, very important to me, Ares, and I'm still in debt, even if you say that I'm already better than you and all that. But I have to pay you back, in some way or the other, too"

Ares was really touched by his friend and his sister's attitude. He never thought he could be that important to someone, in a possitive way. Why couldn't he have had more moments like that one? Maybe he did have them, but he oversaw them, trapped in his own pain and suffering, and lust for revenge. Maybe surviving to the Marlblanke Dite explosion was just to have a small peek at normal life.

He sighed. He just hoped he had enough time to enjoy it.

"What's that noise?", Ares asked weakly, as he heard some footsteps on the corridor.

"The trio left. That must be the hatch closing", Cage said.

"Did you bid her farewell?", Myona asked him, curiously.

Ares denied it with his head, his eyes closed. "We've already talked earlier. There was no need to chase her...", he said, calmly.

Myona rested her head on Cage's chest, tired. She wanted her brother to be okay, to have someone to love, and to be loved by someone else. Faith wasn't there anymore. Now, Hazel wasn't the one... Could there be someone for him, after all?

Cage, on the other hand, could understand him better, or so he thought. Maybe he was lying. Maybe he was trying to look strong and over with the entire Hazel fiasco, and he was hurt within. This wouldn't be the first time he did something like that. In fact, when he previously hanged out with him, he turned up being like that.

Ares was right. There was no need to chase Hazel. If she was the one, things would slowly get in its place. But considering their shared past, the blue haired girl wasn't the one that would heal his wounds.

It would just be a matter of time. Only Time would tell.

* * *

"You did a tidy and great work, like always", Amante congratulated Mikenne through the phone, as she watched the TV, where some news anchor commented, shocked, the case of some prisioner who was found dead in his cell, apparently poisoned. The authorities were looking for his attorney, the last person who saw him alive, but they found out that a woman by that name was dead for six years.

"Thanks", the red-haired girl said, after a small pause. She was riding her way back to the base, exhausted. Even if she hadn't been under the control of the Self-binder, getting everything ready to kill Harris and not getting caught was something tiring.

"It's amazing that you didn't hesitate, even if I hadn't touched the little device", Amante praised her, caressing the self-binder remote control.

"I had some personal reasons to finish him off, too"

"I understand, I understand... there's no need to tell me", the leader said, comprehensively. "Well, I'm waiting for you at the base... then, we'll see how we re-organize all this. I hope the higher-ups are still around..."

"Alright, I'll be there soon", Mikenne said, coldly, and cut the call.

Mikenne sighed. She didn't want to return. And she had her parents' blessing to abandon BAHRAM. But what could she do? It wouldn't look nice in a CV to write down that she was an assassin and part of BAHRAM... She would have to think of something...

However, everything was strange.

It was odd... Amante didn't seem to care about her killing Marrek. Because she had to know it... there was no way that Amante didn't know of the accident's outcome. Amante never said a word about it... nor seemed mad nor concerned about it.

It was just too odd to believe or to be true...

Mikenne felt something was wrong with her car. Something was wrong... she sort of felt a tick-tack sound, but she felt it was her paranoid state. Bombs these days didn't do any sound.

Bombs...

Mikenne stopped the car, got her few wares from it and run away, as fast as she could. She didn't look back, and rushed to the closest town, which, hopefully, she had just walked by a few minutes ago. Once there, she rented a car, and returned to the city through another route.

Later, on the news, she would hear that an abandoned car had exploded near that town.

* * *

"Well... thanks for driving me here", Cynthia said, cheerfully.

"Don't mention it", Arantxa said, turning at her right. "I'm glad you now trust me"

Cynthia blushed. "Well… I was just jealous. You also knew Hazel, and you look much cooler than me, with that weird accent, and that "happy at everything" attitude towards life"

Arantxa giggled, then she sighed, turning serious. "Guess I did a great job fooling everyone around, didn't I?"

Cynthia stared at her with a confused expression. "I thought you really ment it... not that you were faking your vision on life"

The black-haired woman smiled. "That's the only thing I could do if I didn't want to die... it's not easy to be so carefree and trusty when you had to run away from your home, if you don't want a bunch of intolerants to burn down your house and kill your family for something they just thought that you had done..."

"You are constantly running away, then?", the student asked, interested.

"Sort of", she said, now teary-eyed. She giggled, nervously. "Look who I ended up telling part of my story! From all the people in BIS, I thought you would be the last one to know... if you got to know"

Cynthia smiled. "I may make a good Diplomat after all. I caught your secret in an indirect way"

Arantxa smiled. "Could be, could be... it could be a secret no more, also", she said, hopefully. "Only time will tell"

"Yes, only time can tell or heal...", the student said, satisfied. "Take a look at Hazel, for example"

"Yes, it's a bit scary, I have to say", the black-haired girl said. "I don't know if she got her brain replaced in that Metatron thing, but if it helps her to heal her psychological wounds... then, I'm with her"

"Me too... but I have to admit that when I found out that Ares had been the one who had ruined her life, I told him to leave her at ease, but I'd never explained him why", Cynthia recalled. "I don't think I'd have changed much if I had told him. They were already close by that time"

"Don't blame yourself. Some situations just have to happen"

"It must be so", the student said, sighing. "Well, I'll go and see if my friends have already arrived", she said, opening the civilian LEV's door.  
"Wait for me", Arantxa said, turning the engine off and picking the keys. "I need some fresh air..."

"And to check my friends on Hazel's behalf", she interrupted her, giggling.

"Alright, I'm no good spy", the black haired girl said, shrugging. "But I don't mind talking to you, youngsters, so I'll go with you, nonetheless"

"Do as you want, because that's what you are gonna do, nonetheless", Cynthia said, smiling friendly.

"You are right at that", Arantxa said, closing her civilian LEV's door. "See? We could have become friends earlier!", she said, embracing Cynthia, as they kept on walking.

"Well... I'm a bit difficult to deal with. And I was jealous that you got to know Hazel from before, too", the student admitted, shrugging. "I thought I was the only one"

"Stop being that possesive, it's not good. Neither for you, nor for a potential boyfriend"

Cynthia was about to reply to that, but she had already found her friends -Meredy and Elian- waiting for her, in front of some dusty bar. "There they are", she said, walking to their encounter.

"You are alive!", Elian teased her, shouting at her as she walked to them.

Meredy, on the other hand, hugged her as soon as Cynthia got closed to them. "You worried us!"

"I know", Cynthia said, blushing, surprised for that welcoming. "I've never thought you two cared enough about me to be waiting for me here"

"You idiot! Of course we care about you!", her friend protested. "Or else, we wouldn't have wasted so much time trying to figure out what was wrong with you"

"Well, you didn't waste your time just thinking about me", she teased the recently formed couple.

Meredy looked down, blushing.

"One thing led to the other", Elian said in their defense, shyly. "If this goes much further, you should be thinking in becoming the kid's godmother"

Cynthia stared at him astonished. "Don't tell me that she's already pregnant?!", she inquired with a shout.

"No, idiot!", the boy replied, sighing. "In a far away future, we mean..."

"Oh, so you have already planned out the rest of your life while my life was in danger?", she went on teasing them.

"Hahaha, sort of", Meredy laughed, cheerfully.

"If you can't defeat them, join them... am I wrong?", Arantxa said from afar, entertained with the entire situation.

Meredy and Elian turned back to face the stranger, surprised. And they got even more surprised when they saw the young woman. There was something about her -her cool attitude, her speaking out of the blue, her strange accent- that made them feel intimidated and attracted to her.

"Guess so", Cynthia said, smiling proudly. She wanted to attract people just as Arantxa did. Maybe that was another reason why she had been jealous of her since the first moment. Now, she felt proud of having such an attention-bringer friend, and that was why she couldn't help smiling proudly.

"Sorry for getting into your chat without no one calling me", Arantxa apologized, joining them. "My name's Arantxa, and I'm a friend of Cynthia's. I brought her here"

"Hi. I'm Meredy", the light green-haired girl greeted her, politely..

"Elian here", the boy said, still amazed.

Meredy pinched her boyfriend in the arm, gently, to break the spell. Arantxa saw that and giggled, while the poor boy rubbed his arm.

"I think I've seen you before...", Elian said, rubbing his chin. "Could it be...?"

"At some party at the Latin neighbourhood? Most probably", Arantxa said, smiling. "I'm from Basque heritage"

"Ah... so that's it!", Elian said.

Arantxa giggled. "Yes, I may have seen you... but it's been a while since the last party I attended. But I'll be there for Xmas and New Years, that's for sure!"

"Then, I'll surely see you there. I never miss those. And you could come, Mer", he said to the green haired girl. "And you too, Cynt"

"It's a nice idea... if my parents' hadn't sent me to study to Earth before-hand", the brown haired student said, sighing. "I'm sure they'll punish me in some way or the other"

"I'm sure they'll understand you", Meredy said. "Your mother's quite talkative and impulsive... but she wants the best for you"

"Well, she just acts as if she wants to control my life. And her life-style isn't my idea of "good things happening to me"", Cynthia protested.

Arantxa giggled. "Mothers... They are just one, but may act as twenty. Just treasure her while she's around"

"I know that... but she's more difficult than me to deal with!"

"Then, you are in trouble"

"I know!", Cynthia exclaimed, defeated and agstly.

Arantxa giggled at Cynthia's statement. "And how's everything at the neighbourhood?", she asked Elian, curiously.

"Fine, I guess", Elian said, shrugging. "I don't spend much time there, lately. I have to keep appearances up at school, and so, I try to keep my Latin descent under the "repressed Earthian on filthy Mars" shell that the school adores", he explained, sighing. "Luckily, all that will end soon, with my graduation. But last time everything was ok"

"Great. It's been ages since I last pop up there", she said, thoughtfully.

"Then, you could show us the way someday", Cynthia demanded Elian, quickly. "Every place and every thing that the school may consider bad is great to me"

"Always the same rebel without a cause", Meredy sighed.

"Oh, come on! I do have a cause! I'm a Martian, and I want to feel like one!", Cynthia said, proudly. "The school just wants to hide everything and make us feel miserable because we aren't in the precious blue Earth"

"Well... you are right about that", Meredy gave in, shrugging.

Seeing the three friends after school made her remind too many hidden things, and she was at the verge of breaking down. But she wasn't going to allow that. She checked her wristwatch and whistled.

"Alright, guys, I'm leaving you... It's been a pleasure meeting you. I hope you'll be fine", Arantxa waved at them, before leaving.

The three friends stared at the black-haired woman as she walked away. The three of them were like hypnotized, looking how she moved, how cool she looked with her jogging vest and boots, and her carefree attitude. Cynthia couldn't help comparing her "rebel self" to that woman, and noticed that she was lacking quite a few things to be like her. But now, it didn't trouble her much, as she had already chosen another path for her. Now that she had understood that Arantxa was completely different, and that she was unique on her own, she felt embarrassed for feeling envious of the newcomer.

"Man, she sure has some attitude!", Elian exclaimed, amazed. "Latin girls have that, you know"

"She said she was Basque, not Latin", Meredy glared at him, as she pinched him in the arm again.

"Ouch, there was no need to do that!", he complaint. "I was just admiring a fellow Spanish speaker!"

"Well... where are we going?", Cynthia asked, yawning. "I hope you two have a great idea to entertain me, because I'm too stressed and tired..."

"There's a beautiful Economics group work that we have to finish for... the day after tomorrow", Elian said, seriously.

Cynthia stopped walking and stared at them, enraged. "What do you mean by that? Is that the same work from a couple of months before?"

"The same one", Meredy replied, shyly, as she looked at Elian by the corner of her eyes. "I did most of it, but I wasn't going to do it all by myself!"

"Hey, I did help a bit!", Elian protested.

"I also did a bit... but I had to save the Galaxy first!", Cynthia said, trying to laugh at her own lame joke. "Shesss... things don't work out if I'm not around, do they?"

"That's why we needed you, oh Savior of the Galaxy!", Elian teased her, making an odd reverence at her.

The girls laughed, but Cynthia grew serious quickly. "Maybe it's a stupid, retorical question... but what about Agatha and Matt?"

This time Meredy laughed and became serious, almost as quickly as Cynthia had done. "Agatha must be at school, playing her "Gossip girl" role proudly, and Matt... well, he must be after some skirt"

"Not that we are loosing much help with those two gone", Elian said, despectively.

Cynthia sighed. "He has a point there..."

"Well, let's go home, I have everything there", she said, holding Elian's hand.

"Can't you spare me an evening? I'm serious, I'm dead tired! Saving your folks' butts ain't that easy!", she cried, annoyed.

"Come on, you'll tell us on our way home", Elian said, already walking, holding Meredy's hand.

Cynthia stared at them, walking holding their hands, lovingly. There were way too many things she had lost in her petit adventure. For example, when she started getting involved with BIS, those two couldn't talk to each other, as they didn't had any point of contact. Or so she thought. Now, she had to add to her CV that, apart from saving the Galaxy, she played matchmaker without her knowing it.

It hurt her a little. She had started to like Elian, who she had considered a jerk before, but now he was dating Meredy... another person who tricked her completely. She was sure that she was going to get a boyfriend much earlier than her bookworm and nerdy friend. She could say that saving the world was priceless... but now she was collecting all the things she had left behind for a cause.

She sighed. She was happy for them, but felt pity for herself. She just hoped to be still in time to enjoy of her last weeks of High School as an ordinary student, and spend some time with those two, who supported her -spiritually, but actually supported her- greatly.

Elian turned back, and the sun made his dark brown hair shine in a way that made Cynthia's heart ache. "Are you coming or not?"

She smiled. She would find someone like him, she was sure of that. "Of course I'm going. I'm just staring at the pretty couple I helped to make!", she exclaimed, running to them.

Meredy laughed, and grabbed her from an arm, and the three of them started walking to her house.

"Come on, if we finish this quickly, I can take you to an important sale that you'll love"

"Then, let's get rid of that thing right now! I want to buy dresses, shoes, even stockings! I love sales!!"

"Hey, is it just me, or have you lost your face Scottish accent and vocabulary?", Elian asked her, surprised. "Or is it that I've not seen you in a long while?"

Cynthia chuckled, and stared at the couple with a mysterious expresion. "I don't need that anymore. I don't have to pretend that I'm a rebel, because I've already been a real one"

Her friends laughed at her, and she joined them, happily. It was so nice to be back...

Right down the corner, Arantxa stared at the friends, touched. She had also left things like friendship behind for a cause, but in her case, everything went wrong. She had to run away from her county, and didn't know when she was going to return, or if she would ever be able to return. Shaking the bad feelings from her mind, she started her LEV's engine, and drove her way back to her hotel.

* * *

Mikenne stopped her rented car's engine and picked the keys quickly. She closed her car as fast as she could and rushed into the spaceport.

It was completely crowded. Dodging people, she rushed as fast as she could until she could see that woman. After a long struggle, she managed to see the middle aged blonde woman, walking side by side to a man.

"Margaret!!", she yelled, desperately.

The adult woman turned back, looking surprised. When she realized that it was Mikenne the one who had called her, she smiled lightly, sort of relieved.

Mikenne run to her, a bit slower than what she had done before. She was exhausted from her running and her current nervousness.

"What's wrong??", Margaret asked Mikenne, as she grabbed the young woman from the shoulders.

"So you are already leaving?", the red-haired youth managed to ask, as she grasped for some fresh air.

"In a few minutes, yes", Margaret nodded, calmly. "Colonel... well, former Colonel Boer got me an Earthian spaceship to carry Ethan back home. This is going to cost him his position, poor guy"

"I was going to quit... or they were going to quit me", a male voice said from Mikenne's back.

Mikenne turned back, eager to see the one who had talked behind her. A middle aged man, who should be around Margaret's age, stood in front of her. Even if he was wearing civilian clothes, it was obvious that that medium-height, not so thin man was part of the military. Or had been, according to both Margaret's and his statement.

The man stared at her sort of confused. Apparently, he wasn't expecting anyone to know Ethan in Mars. "I'm Joerg Boer. And you are...?", he asked, giving Mikenne his hand to greet her.

Mikenne felt a knot in her stomach. "Mikenne Reiha", she said, shaking his hand firmly. "An acquaintance of Ethan's", she said, as if she had to explain something, but didn't know how to do it without reveiling her entire background.

"I won't report you, nor I have the power to arrest you", Boer said, calmly. "I don't have anything personal against you, but your rebel group had been a constant nuisance in Earth's plans..."

"We Martians felt Earth's presence as a nuisance, so we are at a draw", Mikenne replied, coldly.

"You have a point there", Boer said, sighing. "Tell your comrades that they'll have to get stronger before attacking, or the crazy guys at the UNSF will get them and play some sadistic games with them"

"Nice of you to tell me that, but I've also quit from there, if that's possible", the red-haired youth said, her sight astray. "Right now, I think that what I want most is to see them burning in Hell, biblically speaking"

"Hey, we have another point here! I think I'll like you, girl!", he exclaimed, fascinated. "Now, I think I can understand Ethan a bit for liking you. You must have been like a challenge to him"

Mikenne looked down, embarrassed. "Actually... I think I've been his bad-luck bringer, rather than a challenge", she said, sadenned.

"So you aren't coming with us, are you?", he asked her, suddenly.

The red-haired girl looked up at him, sorprised. "I never thought you would want me to come with you"

"You are the only thing I have left of both my children...", Margaret said, sighing. "I know I can't be your mother..."

"... and I can't suply the twins... Ruth would hate that", Mikenne said, smiling lightly.

"I guess so, she never talked well about her female companions... I thought she was just jealous of the rest of the girls, and insecure about herself"

"I think it's the best way to describe her", the red-haired woman said, softly. "If she had ever known more about myself, she would have never felt like that..."

"Well... I'll let you know about Ethan's recovery, you shouldn't worry about that", Margaret said, smiling and touched.

"I have to give you my new number, Margaret", Mikenne said, smiling. "I had a problem with the other phone", she said, grinning.

"I think I can understand what kind of problem you had", Boer said, smirking.

Mikenne smiled lightly at him, knowing that they were thinking in the same thing. "Yes... it was just... too old. I wouldn't keep in touch with anyone anymore"

"And you don't want that, do you?", Boer asked her, winking.

Mikenne just shrugged, trying to look the most innocent she could.

"Alright, I'll let you know about us from time to time", Margaret said, once she took note of the cellphone number. "Don't doubt to call me if you feel down or anything. Maybe I can be of some help"

"I won't be able to become your daughter...", Mikenne insisted, angstilly.

"... nor I will become your mother", Margaret interrupted her, resigned. "But we can try to help each other. I owe you my son's life, if he survives"

"Just don't tell him what I did", Mikenne said, quickly. "He has another idea of me... the right one, in fact"

Boer sighed, feeling sorry for that previous enemy he had in front of his eyes. "You are too tough with yourself. He would understand you"

"And I would just kill him, in some way or another", Mikenne interrupted him. "Just look at him now"

A beeping noise caught Boer's attention. He picked his cellphone, and read his incoming message. "We have to leave. The spaceship's ready"

Margaret stared at Mikenne gratefully. "I never thought I would come to like a former Martian rebel so much", she admitted, touched. "I just hope you'll be ok... Don't mind to ask me for any kind of help if you ever need it"

Mikenne nodded, bitting her lower lip.

"Well... good bye", Margaret said, picking her bag.

"It's been a pleasure to talk to you... we could become friends", Boer told her, shaking her hand once again.

"Maybe...", the red-haired girl said, trying to look strong and calm.

Boer placed his arm over Margaret's shoulder and started walking along the corridor, in their way to the small spaceship that would take them, with Ethan, back home. Mikenne stayed there, until she couldn't see them anymore. She didn't cry, but she kept hoping that Ethan would awake and be alright as soon as possible.

Slowly, she started walking her way back to her rented car. Too many questions arose in her head, all of them concerning her future. Now, she was officially out of BAHRAM. Amante must think that she got killed, but just in case, she should try to think in getting another name, just in case her previous leader decided to do some checkings.

She sighed. Now, what was left for her was to live... something she would have to learn slowly, yet quickly.

* * *

Hazel closed the door behind her and switched on the lights of her apartment, repaired at last. It was nice to see her apartment with walls and windows, finally! It took the Government so much time... but it was done.

The light blue-haired girl sighed, tired. It would take a while to feel it like home again. She would have to make some trips to her LEV to catch the few wares she had taken with her to the Saoshyant, as the rest was in a deposit. That would have to wait for tomorrow. She had the basic things - a table, a couple of chairs, and most importantly, a bed - already.

It felt so good to be at home... but it was also so lonely. After living with the BIS folks for so long, her home was as silent as a tomb to her.

Not a tomb... She couldn't give any room to that kind of thoughts, because she would start feeling down once again, and that wasn't what she was expected to do.

Her home was just too silent. That was better.

She was surprised that Arantxa hadn't accepted her offer to move into her home, at least until the black-haired girl could find a decent place to live. She would have felt better if someone stayed with her, at least for some time. On the other hand, everyone -even if no one ever mentioned it- was right on the aspect that she had to live her own life, all by herself. And while friends could be there for moral support, she would have to take the decisions and all that.

Now, she was kind of annoyed with Arantxa for that decision. But she knew there was a high chance that she would thank her friend in the future. She couldn't depend on someone else so much again in her life.

She left one of the bags in the ground, and put the other she was carrying over the table. It was time to start unpacking everything...

She placed a photo of her with her parents in one side of the table. Next to it, she placed another photo, this one taken at BIS, shortly before Myona got into the Nerokerubina. She looked far too serious and worried there.

She promised herself, silently, that she wouldn't let herself fall in that emotional pit again. It was going to be tough, but she had to do it.

As she started putting her things back in their place, she started feeling better. It was starting to look like home, little by little. She went on ordering some things, until she got to the telephone table. There, the answering machine was blinking, telling her that there was, at least, one unheard message.

"I wonder who could it be?", she wondered, as she stared at the light, fearful of touching it.

Many people crossed her mind in the few seconds she took to press the play button. Cynthia... Arantxa... her friends could have felt the need to leave her some nice, encouraging words. Athena, her frame's Metatron alter-ego was out of the question, even if she would have wanted her to stay around. Why did good things last so little? Maybe Mebius was feeling motherly, like always, and decided to call her. Or someone else at BIS... Ares, perhaps? He didn't have a reason.

Finally, she pressed the "play" button.

"Hi, Haz!", Alen's voice filled her apartment, cheerfully. "I've just checked the Hellespontos paper, and said that the damaged buildings were about to be handed over to their owners, so I just had to call you. I wanted to be the first one to greet you... There's no need to call back, I just wanted to let you know that, even if I'm not physically there, I'm always with you"

Hazel blushed at his message, and now felt guilty for not having thought about him before. How could she have forgotten completely about him? Well, no one would know that, as she wasn't going to tell that to anyone.

After doing some more tidying up, she sat down on her little sofa, exhausted. Sighing, she analyzed her entire apartment. It was much like before, finally.

"Well... it's time to start again, isn't it? To start anew, from once and for all...", she said, tired.

* * *

NOTES:

Faith is an original character, who's the main character in "Tomorrow will be a brighter day", my take on a short FoM prequel for Vale and Pharsti -mostly Vale, though. I wanted to give Ares some "love interest" without being 100% romantic, as they were kids when they met (well, maybe it could have been his first love, but at Zephyrs' lab... I don't think it could be really possible)

I have to admit that, at first, I liked the Ares-Hazel couple, but then I understood that it was impossible; not only for Hazel's reasoning, but for Ares' too. They are far too immersed in their own pains, and with their shared past... it's highly unprobable that something good comes out from it.

It's incredible how I ended up loving (that's the word) the Mikenne-Ethan couple. It started like a test, and it ended up well, in my opinion. What's more, I ended up loving the way Mikenne ended up. I already liked her concept when I first introduced her, but I think she developed rather well...

Even if this looks like the ending, it isn't! A small epilogue is under revision, so stay around to read the final words of this fic… I don't think it'll take me too long to write!


	27. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Hey, guys! It's wonderful to see you here!", Robin exclaimed enthusiastically, once she saw Cage and Myona on the Saoshyant's bridge.

"Hi, Robin", Myona greeted her, smiling broadly. "How are you doing?"

Robin sighed, tired. "It's not easy to get used to this place being so silent, you know... It's been hard, but we are trying our best to cope with it"

"Who's still here?", Cage asked.

"Warren, Mebius and Lia are still staying, for the time being... Twede and I... and Ares", she counted, thoughtfully. "Yukito's already moved with his family, taking care of his father with his siblings. And Semyl and Razma were the first ones to move back to the orphanage"

"Yes, they are helping there, and everything seems to go smoothly", Cage said, satisfied.

"It's incredible... to think that just four months ago we were living altogether in this big structure", Myona said, amazed. "It was quite like the Big Brother... and it seems so long ago", she remembered, softly.

"Yes, it's so odd", Cage agreed with her, nostalgically.

"And what drives you here? Are you just here for a social visit?", Robin asked, smiling.

"We've come to pick the things we left behind when we moved...", said Cage

"... and to pay a visit, obviously", Myona added quickly.

Robin laughed. "It's alright. I know you weren't fearing that we had thrown your belongings away. Don't worry, everything's just like when you left it", she said, smiling. "That also explains why Hazel came to pick Ares to go to the Hospital today. Not that she doesn't come for other reasons. Meanwhile, Cynthia's stuck with her College entrance exam, studying hard, and Arantxa's full into her photography course"

"Yes, she offered herself. It was quite considerate of her, as we have to rush to sign our rent contract today", Cage explained.

"You managed to find a better apartment so soon?", the light haired woman asked, amazed. "I can't believe it! Then, your small business must be going great!"

Cage blushed. "We work as much as we can..."

"That means, the entire day, 24/7", Myona added, smiling tired.

"Congratulations! I... I don't know what to say!", Robin admitted, touched. "I mean... you are like our little chickens... and now you proved to have some strong wings to fly against the wind..."

"Thanks..."

Cage checked his wristwatch. "Hey, Myona, we'll have to hurry. We have little time"

"We'll talk better another day, Robin, I promise", the purplish haired girl apologized.

"Alright, just feel like home!", she told them, as they started walking along the corridor.

Robin stared at them, proudly. She felt so touched... she really felt like mother hen around her little chicken. Although they weren't chicken anymore. They were decided grown-ups, taking their own path...

Twede came into the main room, smiling at Robin. He had heard everything, there was no need to explain anything to him.

Robin sighed. "It's incredible... The youngsters already know what to do with their life, while we are clueless"

"That's because we've just been in only one area... they are just beginning to take roads and decissions..."

"... and we've already fucked them up"

Twede smiled. "But we are still in our way to mend those errors"

"I just hope that"

* * *

Back in their previous room, Myona and Cage started packing the few things they had left behind.

"It's a blessing that Hazel offered herself to pick Ares up, so we could pack our things and start setting them up at the apartment", Cage said, grabbing some things and putting them into a cardboard box.

"Yeah, I suppose so", Myona replied, unintherested.

Cage stared at her, surprised. He wasn't expecting that kind of reaction from Myona. "What's wrong?"

"I just can't understand her...", Myona said, slightly angrily. "I mean, if she can't be with him, wihy doesn't she leave him at ease and let him go on with his life?"

Cage chuckled.

"What?", she asked, now really angry.

"You are dead jealous of Hazel"

"I'm not!"

"Oh, honey, yes, you are!", Cage went on, even more funnily than before.

Myona looked down, embarrassed. "It's not that I'm jealous... I want to see him well. And if she keeps up popping into and out of his life, I fear he'll start feeling something that it's not there... or that she'll start feeling it, by the way"

"You can't go on protecting him all your life, you know that, don't you?"

"I know... but he did that for me..."

"You have to let him be... if he gets hurt, he'll know how to overcome it"

"But his time isn't the same one as for you and for me"

"I know... but you can't wrap him in a pretty plastic bag to protect him until his time here's over"

"I know that, also... but he... he deserves to be free...", Myona said, teary-eyed. "She won't let him. She'll remind him every moment of what we have done..."

"Did he tell you that?", Cage asked, seriously.

"Well... no... but he's my brother, I know him!", she protested, annoyed.

"You know him well... in that case you already know that he had gone under worst circumstances and he managed to get out from those rather well, in one piece"

Myona nodded silently.

"And... let me tell you that both of you have gone under most stressful things than a girl... Hazel won't be a match for that", he said, determined.

Myona smiled at the joke. "Do you really think so?"

"Absolutely. They are too alike... he'll know when to stop seeing her... as well as she. They are quite experienced in what pain matters"

"Aren't we all here Masters on that?", she asked him, leaning her head over his chest.

Cage bit his upper lip. "Well, yes... but being so alike, and feeling the way they did... they have their own sub-especiality"

Myona giggled, finally relieved. "You did it... I'm not angry at her anymore"

"Great. Hazel can thank the Heavens that her throat will remain in its place for a while more"

"Oh, you are so mean!", she protested hitting his arm. "Am I so terrible?"

"When you get angry, you can be", he said, rubbing his arm, while winking at her.

Myona smiled, thankful. "Cage...?"

He hugged her, softly. "What, honey?"

She loved him even more when he called her like that. "Thanks... for being with me"

"Don't be silly... I should be thankful to you", he said, touched. "You've been my guiding light... Without you, I would still be a wimpy, whining guy"

"And without you, I would have never understood what living really was"

"Myona?"

"What?"

"I'll never let you go, nor I'll let you anyone to harm you again... Let's try to do our best to avoid those situations... to build peace from our little spot in the universe, shall we?"

It was an interesting proposal. To pay back some of the damage she had done in her BAHRAM days, to retribute the world her joy for having met Cage, even if it was in the oddest circumstances around.

She smiled, staring at him lovingly. "It's a gorgeous idea. Let's try it, doing our best"

Cage smiled back, satisfied, before leaving with a box filled with their wares.

* * *

"So, everything's fine?", Hazel asked, as Ares got into her car-like LEV, after coming out from the Hospital.

"Yes, everything's ok", he said, closing the door and putting his seat bealt on.

"That's great news, then", she said, smiling.

"I guess", said he, resigned. "I mean, I want to feel good, but I'm tired of the doctors and all that stuff"

"Then, I couldn't leave you alone, as you wouldn't have come"

"Maybe..."

"Come on, I'll take you home", she said, smiling. "And don't even think in leaving the treatment, or you'll just regret it in your death-bed"

"That wouldn't be the only thing I would regret", he was about to say, but had the good idea of staying silent, or he would hurt her feelings once again. Especially when she hadn't said anything about it for a long while.

Even if he hadn't said it, Hazel thought she knew what was going through his head, and was thankful that he didn't reply to her statement.

It was a strange situation, theirs.

While driving, Hazel recalled how she ended up doing what she was doing now.

It had been like two weeks since she had left the Saoshyant. She had returned there to pay her friend's a visit, to let them know that she was still alive and well. The entire place was a mess, with boxes and bags everywhere, as Semyl and Razma were moving to the orphanage, and Myona and Cage had found a little apartment in the city to move to.

Chatting with Mebius, she learnt that Ares was still feeling weak, but that he didn't want to visit a doctor, even if Myona was quite insistant on the subject.

Before she realized it, she was standing in front of Ares' door, hesitant. She was playing with her LEV's keys, without really paying attention to them, but thinking about something much more important: should she knock the door or not?

She was about to act just as Arantxa or Cynthia would have done to her when she was down: demandingly, bossy, dragging her to do things she didn't want to do. She still couldn't really forgive Arantxa for dragging her into the communications room at the Spaceport, only to make her announce the departures and the incoming trips during an entire evening, when she wasn't prepared for that. However, that helped her to overcome a bit the sadness she felt that day. She couldn't pay attention to anything else rather than the screens. Now, there wouldn't be any Spaceport involved, but she felt she had to do something about Ares' situation.

Breathing heavily, she finally got into the room, surprising Ares, who was messing with another button, to no end. "Come on, get your violet jacket and let's go to the Hospital", she said, seriously.

Ares stared at her, astonished. "I'm not going anywhere like that. I've had enough needles and medicines for two or three reincarnations"

"Whatever, I won't let you die that easily", she demanded. "This is what I was suppossed to do with my parents when they got old if... well, if circumstances had been different, so now I have to do it with you, ok? So get ready, that I won't wait for you much. I can easily change my mind, you know"

If circumstances had been different... now, that was a great start, coming from Hazel. She hadn't mentioned that he had killed her parents... maybe he wasn't the one who had to go to the Hospital...

And that was the beginning of Hazel's assistance to Ares. She bugged him to go to the Hospital several times, and when neither Myona or Cage, nor someone else, could go with him, she was there, ready to go. Not that he was already that bad that he needed someone with him constantly, but to act as some moral support and prevent any "disappearing act" from the Hospital or evading his visits.

Ares stared at her, silently. She looked stronger in a way, even if it had just been only four months since she started living on her own. He thought it would take her longer to get used to that life, since she had had problems to adapt to new situations through all her life, according to her.

It was nice, to see her like that. If she could overcome her difficulties, then why wouldn't he be able to do the same?

A nasty cough reminded him of his fragile condition, as if it was answering his own question.

He sighed. Even if he was improving with the new treatment, he was doing it slowly. Maybe he was just making his existance last longer, without any real recover. Whatever, he had to remember that he was already a "walking miracle", so he didn't have to press his luck further.

He would have to do what he could in his state, and accept it.

"And what have you been doing while I was being examined by all those physicians?", Ares asked her, curious. By "examining", he meant a couple of blood tests, some dialysis and general studies. Thing that took him a while, and gave Hazel enough free time to do many things outside the hospital.

"Well... I've been getting information about careers", she said, sighing. "Nothing serious, yet. I still don't know what I want to do with my life"

"Well, seeing how much time and effort you waste nursing me, you should make it profitable"

"I'll take that into account, Mr 'I'm waiting for my death anxiously'", Hazel teased him, turning right on a corner.

"It was a suggestion. You don't need to do this for me, you know"

"I know that very well, and I don't go with you everyday, just in a while, when Myona can't, or when she deserves a breath. Because if we wait for you to do it on your own, you would be already dead"

Ares sighed. He couldn't reply anything against that.

"What were you studying for when... well, when you joined BIS?", Ares asked, shyly.

"I wanted to become an arquitect", she replied. "I didn't know where I was standing, and I thought that by making the plans for great buildings I would find myself and my course in life again", she said, sarcastically. "Now, I don't know. I can't see myself on it. Maybe because my own building was destroyed, and took a long while to get it repaired. Or that the building couldn't prevent people from getting hurt during the attack. I just wished I could help in some way, and I don't think that by making houses and buildings I'll do much..."

"You'll have to deal with builders, too", he stated, sill picturing her as a fragile person, even if she had gotten quite talkative in the last few months.

"Yeah, there's also that. I can't hire some bodyguards to look after me, and no company will give me those", she said, teasingly. "What are you going to do now? The treatment looks promising, if you ask me", she said, with real interest.

He sighed. "I haven't thought about it, either. I think I'll start composing music, while fixing computers. That will give me an income, and I can spend the money in what I really like"

"Yes, that would be great... you play the piano really well", she said, in rememberance.

Ares noticed that she touched her neck as she said that. She must be wearing the button he had given her, even if she said she never used it anymore. He smiled at that thought.

It was time to change the way of the chat.

"What's that?", Ares asked, pointing to a brown paper bag from where part of a hand-drown lady could be seen. If he was not mistaken, he had seen the image of that armored lady before.

"It's an art commission of Athena, the Greek Goddess. I've found a great, delicious artist who's also hooked on Mythology... and who, luckily for me, doesn't charge much", Hazel explained, cheerfully. "I just needed to have something related to her, somehow... She had been helpful, you know? I never thought that something like that could have ever been possible"

Ares smiled. It was true. On Hazel, just like in Cage's case, Metatron proved to be worthwhile and helpful. She had been able to finally overcome her parents' tragic deaths, and even if she seemed dependant on Athenea now, who was also gone, she looked much stronger and capable to get over that duel sooner. Maybe because Athenea was a piece of Metatron, and she knew that the entire situation was insane. However, everyone noticed she missed her.

"It looks nice...", he said, just by the little corner he could see.

"It is nice... what I recall is nicest, but I'm biased, so that doesn't count", she said, smiling. "I love how people can come up with something pretty with their imagination...", she said, thoughtfully.

"Are you the artistic type?", he asked, his heart pumping fast at the prospect of a possible possitive answer. Maybe he could fulfill a promise...

"Oh, no... sadly. I really admire artists, but I can't draw to save my life"

"And what about dancing?", he asked, trying to keep his hope up.

"I've been born with two left feet, sorry", she said, shrugging at him, with a sadenned look in her face. "Why do you ask?"

"No, it was nothing", he said, trying to hide his disappointment. "I just recalled a girl at the Labs... she used to dance ballet"

"That's gorgeous!", Hazel said enthusiastically. But there was something in her voice that showed that her mind was somewhere else. Could it have been the girl with the plastic blue bracelet that she saw alongside her parents and Athena?

"She was so confident that we would get out from the Labs alive, that she said that she would take up ballet again..."

"Poor thing...", she said, guessing the outcome of the story.

"Yes, it's sad", said Ares, taciturn.

They become silent. Ares tried to overcome Faith's memories, to avoid thinking about his most probably unfulfilled promise. Hazel, on the other hand, got uncomfortable at the mention of another girl. What was going on with her? She didn't like Ares, she was just helping him out because she couldn't do the same with her parents... Their relationship was a strange one, but they were acquaintances... maybe they could become friends, if they could overcome their respective barriers...

She never thought she would found herself thinking that way... and being jealous of a dead girl. Things were starting to get odd for her. Luckily, Alen was coming, and he would get her world back in its place.

That reminded her that she hadn't tell him about her friend's arrival.

"Alen's coming in some weeks", Hazel finally said, after thinking for a while if she should mention that fact or not.

"Ok", Ares just replied.

"He's coming to join some Martian Gymnastics club... He says that the circuit here isn't as tough as the one in Earth, so he'll get in shape much sooner than if he stays at Earth", Hazel started explaining, worried. "However, I can still add 2 and 2, and I don't think that's his real reason, but his excuse. Since he can't take me to Earth with him, he's decided to stay here for a while, 'till he convinces me... that's my guess, but I think I'm pretty close to what's really going on in his head. I just can't imagine how his parents' are going to take it...", she added, thoughtfully.

She had been eager to explain the entire situation... that wasn't too normal in her.

"It's alright, you don't have to explain me anything", Ares said, calmly, smiling with that taciturn and strange smile of his.

"I just wanted to let you know before he came. I won't let you two get in contact, though... I can't guarantee Alen's behavior"

"It's alright. I'll try to evade him, and I don't think I'll have much problems doing that"

"Yes, we'll have to stop seeing each other as we did lately"; she admitted, calmly.

Ares couldn't tell if she felt happy or sad about the last statement.

"Would you like to visit the Monolith?", she asked, naturally.

Ares stared surprised at her. He wasn't expecting that. Even if they shared pains, they had decided to be on their own in those moments.

"Alright", he said, after a long pause.

"Great", the light blue-haired girl said, calmly. Slowly, she headed for the park.

Ares looked at her, trying to guess what she was thinking about. She was quite a mystery to him, and would always remain like that.

"Why are you doing this, Hazel?", he asked, finally.

Her hands tightened around the LEV's manuver. She was nervous.

"Just... don't keep pushing further", she said, nervously. "I still don't know how I do to control this..."

Ares remained silent, feeling sorry for having troubled her, both in the past and in the present. There had to be a way to be able to express his feelings without words. Through music it would take him much time, as he had to start learning how to compose from scratch. Something artistic it had to be...

"Hey, stop here, for a little while", he said, out of the blue. He saw something that gave him a good idea.

"Where?"

"Just in the corner. I'll be back in no time", he said, already opening the LEV's door.

When Hazel realized it, he was already outside. She had barely had time to park the LEV before he got out off it as if he were desperate. Now, what was going on in his head? Was it some medication the physicians gave him?

The answer puzzled her, once again.

"Flowers?", she asked, surprised.

Ares came into her LEV carrying some bouquets of different flowers of different species and colors.

"Some for the stolen innocence, others to ask for forgiveness, others to forget... a small bouquet for you to say both thanks and sorry", he explained, handing her a small bouquet of flowers, while keeping another one.

Hazel remained petrified, staring at the bouquet with mixed feelings. Finally, she got over her surprise and took it with a smile in her face, touched. "Thanks", she mumbled, blushing.

Ares just nodded at her. Words there would be out of place.

Soon, they reached the park. They had done the entire trip in silence since he gave her the flowers, which were now laying next to the picture of Athena.

He waited for her, while she closed her LEV, standing with a hand in his pocket, and the other carrying his bouquet of flowers. When she reached where he was, he started walking. They walked silently, side by side. They felt too touched to say anything.

The walk was a short one, since she parked the LEV in the closest corner to the Monolith.

Ares knelt down, placing the flowers over the piece of stone. Hazel stood behind, watching carefully. She always felt odd in that place, for some reason. She thought it was because it was like a cemetery, even if there was no grave, no name engraved on the stone.

The young man started ripping away the already dried up flowers that the wind hadn't taken with it. Soon, it looked much better, and not so desolate as when they had arrived.  
"Not many people comes here, it seems", he said, for the sake of saying something.

"No", she replied, coldly. "For most people, dead people have to remain dead and don't deserve any respect or homage"

"It's cruel... but it's a cruel world. But we both knew that well before this, so I haven't found out anything interesting"

Hazel sat down and leant against the monolith, and a small arose in her lips, showing both her happyness and sorrow. "I know that most people may think that this -I mean, sitting here like this- is kind of unrespectful against the departed ones, but I think all the contrary. Like this, it's as if they were by my side... even as if they were hugging me", she said, smiling broadly, this time with her eyes closed, her entire being in rememberance.

For a short while, while staring at her in that pose, Ares could also believe that there were more people in that place than just the two of them.

"Thanks for letting me come with you, Hazel", he thanked her, finally.

She stared at him, funnily. "Don't ever mention it", she said, smiling. "I'm no one to tell you what to do or what not to do... Let's try to get along well, trying to overcome our differences. Let's make it for the friendship we would have had if things had been different. I've already felt too much pain, I don't want to torture myself anymore with something that I can't change"

"It's a wise decision", he said, smiling. "I may be the foolest guy around, after all. Everyone's giving me pleasant surprises, lately"

"No, I was the foolish one... just think to what ends the suffering can take you...", she said, thoughtfully.

"I know that very well"

"I know, it was rhetorical"

"I want you to be happy, Hazel"

"Me... too", she said, so softly that he had trouble to hear it.

But he did. Smiling broadly, he gave his hand to Hazel and proposed her, "Let's try to enjoy our best while we are still here"

He knew that she would be there for more time than what he would, but he didn't want to leave that exposed, because they both knew it.

Hazel stared at him deeply into his eyes, in agreement. "Sounds like a good plan. It's a deal", she said, shaking his hand.

"Do you think I'll give you many headaches with Alen?", he asked, worried.

"I'll deal with him, don't worry", she said, confidently. "Ready to return home?"

He took a final look to the Monolith. The feeling that he wasn't alone there was still around. "Yes", he said, strongly.

"Alright", Hazel said, staring at it once more. "We can come more often, if it makes you feel better"

"It makes me feel... strange"

"Yes, me too. It's quite a touching place"

"Yes, it is"

They started walking slowly to her LEV, under the setting sun over the deserted park.

"What a coincidence, to find them here", Mebius said, as she stared at Hazel and Ares from afar.

"Coming to think about it, it's not a real coincidence", Warren stated, considering the Monolith that stood in front of them, where the two youths were. "It's quite natural that they feel the need to visit that place"

"Yes, I know that... it's only that I never thought they would be together, given the circumstances"

"Well, you are right about that. Hazel has surprised us all with that sudden change of attitude"

"Yes, she now seems a complete different person..."

"Just what made her change her mind so much?"

"She said that the last time she was on her OF, some strange, wacky things happened, but she seemed to have found a meaning in her OF going nuts", Mebius explained, shrugging. "Maybe she was going through a lot of doubts about everything, and somehow she found the answer"

"I bet that Ares is as clueless as us... no, even more"

"Yes, poor lad...", she said, motherly.

"Should we join them?"

"No... let's them be on their own, even if there's no chance of a future relationship", Mebius said, smiling.

She noticed Lia running fast ahead of them.

"Lia! Don't run away like that!", Mebius called her daughter, worried, afraid that she might get hurt.

"I'll be fine, mommy!", the little girl said, waving at her.

"Oh, my God... she's the independent type", the blonde woman said, anxiously.

Warren laughed. "You couldn't expect a calm type after being raised up withint BIS"

Mebius giggled. He was far too right.

Too many things were changing for them, too. Warren wasn't the joking type, and now, slowly, from time to time he said something funny. Or at least, she found it funny. She, on the other half, wasn't as possesive around Lia as before, nor she was so reserved and defensive.

But what was more important, she didn't feel guilty anymore of being alive while her late husband and Tia weren't. And that made her lighter, freer...

"Hell, I hate this wind", Warren protested, rubbing his eye, since something had gotten into his it, carried by the wind.

He had his guard down. Now it was the time...

Mebius caught his sunglasses quickly, and put them quickly in her bag.

"Hey!", Warren protested. "I can't see anything with this sun!"

"You'll have to get used to!", Mebius said, funnily. "You are lucky because your skin is naturally tanned, but you would have a deep mark around your eyes if you keep using this all the time under the sun! You should better get used to stay without them!"

Warren sighed. "That's not the only thing I'll have to get used to..."

Mebius nodded. "A normal life... it's been ages since I last had one of those"

"I never had it, on the other hand", Warren said, sighing. "I have no idea how it is..."

"Much like the one we led until now, only that we aren't suppossed to live altogether, and there aren't any OFs and LEVs around... and we'll have to get a real job..."

"That's the worst part for me. I've never had a real job... well, not what most people would call a normal job"

"Don't worry... we'll see what we can do... I don't know why, but I think that Yukito will save the day again...", Mebius said, hopefully.

"I hope so..."

And slowly, the couple went on walking, staring at their little child Lia, who was running ahead of them, chasing some butterfly, as if she was chasing her own destiny...

The End

* * *

NOTES:

Well... I've finally reached the fic's end. It's been my longest fic ever. I can't believe that it's finally complete. I have to edit some chapters, alright, but the story is finally in a document. It's... so strange!

I have to apologize to the ones who were waiting for a real fanfic for Fist of Mars. I started planning it before I ended the game, and I saw the slight chance to do it when, in the good ending, there wasn't any explicit line saying that Ares was dead (ironically enough, this also happened with another fic of mine, Trap for the Heart. The main male character, Uther, also dies on the game... now, what do I have with dead characters?!?). I needed him for Hazel's reaction, and I also thought that he deserved another ending, some second chance in life.

I also say that I have to apologize because I wrote more about my original characters rather than the cannon ones, who barely acted like a supporting cast in the sea of traumas of my troubled OCs. It wasn't expected, also. I learned to love my OCs, really (well, except Marrek, he was just made to be hated... now I feel sorry for him, hahaha. Well, not really).

However, I don't really feel like apologizing, because I liked the outcome... but well, if anyone who's looking for a 100% cannon story and is peeping the final chapter... well, you are already warned =D

I don't know if I'll do it (I also don't know if anyone cares), but I feel like writing a bit more about my originals. Maybe I'll even do the sequel, after all (but much shorter, and with less OF action, which I can not write!).

Many thanks to those who have followed this fic from the very beginning (Silvace –also, thanks for encouraging me to not stop writing this, when I just had the first chapter and half of the second done! You saved this from the recycle bin!-, Wing Zero Alpha), to those who read but never commented (sorry for the "crybaby" notes about reviewing, but I just needed to know what people thought of the course of the fic! I love constructive criticism!), and to those who'll read once it's complete. Thanks. And don't forget to tell me what do you think about it! Alright, just had to say it.

I hope you've enjoyed the fic as I did writing it.

March, 2010


End file.
